Commercial text messaging should be opt-in, says EU Committee

E-mail would be treated according to the preference of each Member State so that some Member States, such as Italy, will require prior permission and others, including the UK, will not.

The decision to adopt the proposal by a wafer-thin majority came during the Committee’s debate on the wording of a proposed Directive on Electronic Communications and Data Privacy.

Under the E-commerce Directive, which has already been implemented into the laws of some Member States and is expected to be implemented in the UK in the summer, any commercial communications sent as text messages or as e-mails must clearly identify themselves as such. However, in the UK, provided that a business complies with Data Protection laws and its ISP’s terms and conditions, sending such unsolicited communications to UK recipients is legal.

CW360.com, the on-line edition of Computer Weekly, yesterday quoted a spokesperson for lobbying group EuroISPA observing the failure of the Committee to take into account the convergence of technologies:

“Why should you need prior consent to send an SMS message to someone’s mobile phone, but no prior consent to send an e-mail to the same phone?”

The Federation Of European Direct Marketing (FEDMA) said on Friday that it was pleased with the Committee’s decisions on the proposed Directive. As reported on Friday on OUT-LAW.COM, the Committee back-tracked on a more controversial proposal to regulate the use of internet cookies.

FEDMA believes that “National Choice” is the correct approach to e-mail spam, giving each Member State the right to choose between opt-in and opt-out. “Going back to the national choice amendment will give SMEs in the European Union a chance to develop their business in the Internal Market, by establishing first contact with the consumer via e-mail. This is vital for e-commerce to prosper in the European Union", said Axel Tandberg of FEDMA.

The proposed Directive will be voted on in the plenary session of the European Parliament
in May. There is no certainty that the Committee’s proposals will become law – they differ significantly from the proposals of the Council of Ministers.