Eyewear retailer Luxottica, owner of the OPSM, Oakley and Sunglass Hut brands, has been the most recent subject of enforcement action taken by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) for breach of Australian Spam laws under the Spam Act 2003 (Cth) (Spam Act).
The investigation found that between November 2022 and May 2023, Luxottica sent:
- 91,231 marketing emails to consumers without a functional unsubscribe facility
- 112,348 texts and emails to consumers who had previously unsubscribed from receiving these communications.
Luxottica was fined $1,512,500 by ACMA for its violations of the Spam Act.
This follows recent enforcement action taken by ACMA against other businesses, such as Outdoor Supacentre Pty Ltd, for breach of Australian Spam laws. Our recent article 'Time to revisit your marketing settings? Recent penalties for breaching Spam law' summarises the action taken by ACMA against Outdoor Supacentre and steps which businesses can take to ensure they are compliant with Australian Spam laws.
ACMA reported that over the last 18 months businesses have paid more than $12.7 million in spam and telemarketing penalties.
Key takeaways
- make sure your marketing templates include a functional unsubscribe facility
- check your processes to ensure unsubscribe requests are actioned within the required timeframe.
It is probably worth taking another look at how you manage your marketing settings as enforcement of the spam unsubscribe rules continues to be one of the ACMA's compliance priorities.
This publication does not deal with every important topic or change in law and is not intended to be relied upon as a substitute for legal or other advice that may be relevant to the reader's specific circumstances. If you have found this publication of interest and would like to know more or wish to obtain legal advice relevant to your circumstances please contact one of the named individuals listed.
