Companies 'not complying with email laws'

Last updated at 15:34 03 January 2007


More than a third of top UK companies are failing to abide by laws which give customers the chance to opt out of unwanted emails, a survey has found.

The poll of 200 firms showed 31 per cent were not complying with the EU directive on privacy and electronic communications, which grants internet users the right to refuse emailed adverts and marketing messages.

Data and marketing company CDMS said many companies were risking their reputations by allowing themselves to be regarded as "junk e-mailers".

Under the directive, which came into force three years ago, companies can only send unsolicited sales email to non-customers who have actively "opted-in" to receive them.

CDMS tested the 200 firms and found 69 per cent were compliant, up 3 per cent on 2005.

Spokesman Ian Hubbard said: "Companies who have not complied are putting their carefully-built brands at risk, by putting out the message to consumers that they apparently don't care about legislation designed to protect their prospective customers' privacy.

"This effectively puts them in the category of junk emailers, and associating them with a rising tide of spam, and growing consumer concerns over the security of their personal records."

He added: "Non-compliant companies urgently need to put processes in place to limit their current risk, before finding themselves the subject of a highly public complaint or a test case prosecution."

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