A review of worldwide email marketing laws
With globalization and online marketers realizing the huge potential that expanding their efforts internationally has, it is of utmost importance to realize that what constitutes email best practices in one country is different than in others. However, there is one common denominator upon reviewing email marketing laws worldwide: opt-in.
Clearswift has released a poll of over 1,200 business people around the world, concentrated in Germany, France, Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. The poll found that 84 percent of businesses are unaware of local spam laws.
The following is a synopsis on email marketing laws worldwide highlighting Korea, Malaysia, Germany, Spain. (Please note this is the second review of a three-piece segment. The first installment highlighted the United States, the UK, Australia, Canada, China and Japan.)
Korea
South Korea is an economic and technological leader, which makes it an important example for the rest of the world. One distinct area of leadership is South Korea’s success in dealing with spam where recent policy changes seem to be effective. The new regulations, enacted this July, are similar to those found elsewhere with some notable distinctions. The rules require marketers to identify their emails as advertisements and allow people to opt out from future emails through a toll-free hotline. Additionally, it is also forbidden for marketers to harvest or generate email addresses. Most notable, however, is the penalty that can reach up to $853,000, according to a report in the Washington Times.
At least initially the regulations seem to be successful as the percentage of email that is spam has dropped from about 40 percent in March to 20 percent in July. Furthermore, pornographic spam dropped 27 percent over the same period, according to the Korean Information Security Agency. Although it is always difficult to establish a chain of causation, changes are truly dramatic and will no doubt influence other nations in dealing with spam.
However, despite the short-term drop in spam, there is ample evidence that the problem continues to grow. For instance, Business Week reports that South Korea currently produces 19.7 percent of the world’s spam compared to 11.6 percent in the previous year. Although it is possible that Korean users are actually receiving less spam and that the increased production is all exported, it is likely that this summer's lull was only temporary.
Exactly how effective Korea’s regulations are is still unclear. What is clear, though, is that given the combined international and technological problems facing governments, such regulations will not do the job alone. What is needed to curb this growing problem is continued global coordination and incentives for the development of anti-spam technology
Malaysia
According to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), they have no specific provisions on the illegality of spam and no immediate plans to legislate. However, with Malaysia’s increasing internet connectivity and mobile penetration, the MCMC should be prepared to deal with email marketing laws.
According to the Computer Industry Almanac, as of March 2005, 37.9 percent of Malaysia’s population is online. The number of users has tripled in just five years. One of the reasons for such rapid growth is the Malaysian government's involvement in bringing broadband access to its people. In July of last year, Datuk Seri Lim Keng Yaik, Malaysia's minister of Energy, Water and Communications, announced plans to bridge the countries' digital divide by making broadband available to all.
Additionally, according to Huei Min Lee, research manager, telecommunications research, IDC Malaysia, "In the next five years, Malaysia's broadband subscriber market is expected to increase at a healthy compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32.9 percent from 2004 to 2009."
Malaysia has over eight million users online, about one-third of the total population. The online population is two times that of the entire Singapore population already. Having said that, the internet infrastructure needs to be improved in order for the online population to continue its growth and encourage greater usage of the internet. This also means that the MCMC needs to take preventative measures such as self regulation by users through education and awareness initiatives; and management of email service providers.
Germany
Last August, The Economist released an article titled “Germany’s Surprising Economy” (August 20th, 2005) which highlights the country’s revival of its business and consumer confidence as well as domestic demand.
It is no surprise then, that Germany’s online ad spend is growing exponentially. According to Horizon.net, German online advertising spend increased 157 percent from 2003 to 2004. With the exception of the UK, Germany is leading the rest of Europe in terms of online ad spend.
The German government is taking an active role in its attempt to regulate email marketing. New laws are currently being passed that will make it illegal to manipulate email headers that are misleading to the recipient. Additionally, email marketing messages promoting advertising messages must be identified with a (ADV).
Spain
According to the AUI -- Associacion de Usuarios de Internet (Spanish Internet Users' Association) -- the following are email marketing guidelines:
The distribution of promotional or advertising communications by electronic mail or equivalent electronic means is forbidden if they have not been solicited before or if they have not been explicitly authorized by the recipient.
Commercial communications sent by email or by equivalent means of electronic communication, in accordance with set terms, have to start with the word "publicidad" ("publicity" in Spanish).
Additionally, Spain’s internet users have legal rights regarding commercial email communications. According to Spain’s Law on the Information Society and Electronic Commerce (adopted in late 2002), “In case the user of an internet service has to give his email address during the contracting or subscription process with the service provider and the provider has the intention to use this address afterwards for the purpose of sending commercial communications to the customer, he has to inform the customer of this intention. Also he has to ask for the customer’s approval to do so before finally concluding the contract procedures.”
At the end of the day, whether it is in Korea, Malaysia or Spain, responsible email marketing adheres to the same key elements:
Marketers are required to use the opt-in approach
Prohibition against using false or misleading transmission information
Prohibition against using randomly generated or harvested addresses
Prohibition against relaying email from computers without authorization.