The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has registered a code of practice that seeks to establish industry-wide practices and procedures relating to spam email.
The new code, Internet Industry Spam Code of Practice — A Code For Internet And Email Service Providers (code) was developed by the Internet Industry Association together with the internet associations from Western Australia and South Australia. Section 112 of the Telecommunications Act 1997 empowers bodies in the telecommunications industry to develop codes relating to the telecommunications activities of those bodies.
The Spam Act 2003 makes it illegal to send, or cause to be sent, unsolicited commercial electronic messages (including email, mobile text messages, instant messages and multimedia messages) that have an Australian link.
The code seeks to enhance the current regulatory arrangement in relation to email messages by requiring internet service providers (ISPs) and email service providers (ESPs) to:
- provide spam filtering options to subscribers
- inform subscribers what default email filtering the ISP or ESP performs at its own servers
- advise subscribers how to manage and report spam
- ensure their policies prohibit spamming over their networks
- comply with all lawful requests of law enforcement and regulatory agencies investigating spam activities.
The code also imposes obligations on ISPs in relation to preventing open relays and open proxy servers.
The code does not apply to e-marketing matters addressed under the Australian e-Marketing Code of Practice, or SMS marketing addressed under the SMS Issues Code.
A copy of the code is available on the ACMA website.
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