• email marketing
• spam act 2003

Spam Act 2003

Your requirements under Australian law

The Spam Act prohibits the sending of spam (unsolicited commercial electronic messages) with an Australian link. If the message originates from or was commissioned in Australia, or originates overseas but was sent to an address accessed in Australia, it has an Australian link.

If your business uses email, SMS (text message), MMS (image-based text messages) or instant messaging for marketing purposes, you must understand and meet the following three key requirements of the Spam Act:

1. Consent - the message must be sent with the recipient's consent. The recipient may give express consent, or under certain circumstances consent may be inferred from their conduct or an existing business or other relationships
2. Identify - the message must contain accurate information about the person or organisation that authorised the sending of the message and how to contact them
3. Unsubscribe - the message must contain a functional 'unsubscribe' facility to allow the recipient to opt out from receiving messages from that source in the future. Unsubscribe requests must be honoured within five working days.

A message does not necessarily have to be sent out to numerous addresses to be considered spam. Under Australian law, a single electronic message can be considered spam.

Find out more about the Spam Act and your requirements under Australian law.