Review of Spam Act moots extension to junk fax

By Stuart Corner
Thursday, 22 June 2006 18:28

IT Policy - Regulation

The minister for communications, information technology and the arts, senator Helen Coonan, has tabled in Parliament a report on the review of the Spam Act 2003, but has made no comment on its recommendations, the most significant of which is a call for consultation on extending the Act to apply to fax messages.
Coonan said: "Based on contributions received during public consultation, the report makes recommendations to Government on how to continue this good work. The Government will carefully consider these recommendations, ensuring that Australia's anti-spam approach continues to be appropriately targeted and effective."

Most of the report's recommendations were to maintain the status quo. However a number of changes were called for:

The report recommended that:
- additional advice be developed for businesses on legitimate terms and conditions practices associated with premium service messages;
- additional advice be developed for consumers on the recourse available for unsolicited premium service messages;
- cooperative anti-spam agreements with other jurisdictions should continue to be sought, with an emphasis on information sharing and collaboration on anti-spam enforcement.
- Further consultation should be undertaken on the inclusion of fax communications under the Spam Act. These consultations should include industry (particularly the small business sector) and consumer groups. Alternatives such as maintenance of the status quo, industry self-regulation, and coverage by the Spam Act should be considered. Consultations should ensure that consumers continue to be protected from unwanted commercial communications and that legitimate commercial communications are protected.

The review, which received over 60 submissions, found that the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) had undertaken effective and appropriate enforcement of the Spam Act.

"Since ACMA began its enforcement activities, Australia has dropped from 10th to 23rd on the list of worldwide sources of spam," Coonan said. "Spam from the entire Australasia region now accounts for less than 0.8 percent of global spam."

She said that the Autralian legislative approach to spam control had been recommended as a template for other countries seeking to address spam by both the International Telecommunication Union and anti-spam organisation Spamhaus.

The report, prepared by DCITA, can be downloaded here.