Optus has been fined over $500,000 for breaches of the Spam Act. Do you know your obligations when sending SMS and email messages to customers?
Do you send text messages or emails as a way to communicate with, and market to your clients and customers? With SMS and email growing in popularity for business marketing, it’s becoming increasingly important that you are aware of (and do comply with) your obligations in relation to the commercial messages you send.
Where you send commercial SMS, MMS, instant messages or email messages, the Spam Act requires you to:
- Have obtained the consent of the recipient of the message (which can be express consent, or inferred);
- Properly identify your business and include contact details for your or your business; and
- Ensure your communication contains a functional unsubscribe facility (and you are required to honour an unsubscribe request within 5 business days of receipt).
Failure to comply with the Spam Act may lead to ACMA issuing infringement notices (as it has done with Optus) or otherwise issuing Court proceedings seeking civil penalties and injunctions for breaches of Australia’s Spam laws. Repeat corporate offenders may face penalties of up to $2.1 million per day.
If you aren’t familiar with your obligations on the Spam Act, or need some guidance in relation to your obligations, our Commercial Team is here to help.
