Businesses must ensure they do not send spam.
Failure to comply could mean a fine of up to $500,000.
An electronic message is considered spam only if it is commercial in nature - for instance marketing or promoting goods, services, land, an interest in land, an investment opportunity or including a link to the afore mentioned categories. A single message may be spam. The message does not need to be sent or received in bulk.
It is important to note that providing a hyperlink to a company web page in the signature of an otherwise non-commercial email would make it a commercial electronic message.
There are however a number of commercial electronic messages that can be sent legitimately. Please refer to the information below and, for the full definitions, section 6 of the Act.
The Act provides that the following common messages between organisations and clients/customers are not commercial electronic messages:
If a message falls into any of the above descriptions then it may not be considered spam and need not meet the obligations for consent, identity and unsubscribe. If you are not sure your intended electronic message fits into the above categories, you may wish to seek independent legal advice regarding the nature of your message.