The new summary is designed to assist US DMA members in
complying with applicable laws when marketing abroad. It specifies
each nation's opt-in and opt-out practices, and summarises laws
that detail rules for direct and interactive marketers. It also
explains European Union Directives that will affect marketing
practices in 15 European nations beginning 1st November.
The Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive is due to be
implemented by all EU Member States by 31st October and will
institute major change in marketing standards. In particular the
Directive will establish an 'opt-in' approach to e-mail marketing,
whereby recipients must consent to marketing before e-mails can be
sent to them.
"Legitimate e-mail marketers care about the rules, and play by
them, at home and abroad," said H. Robert Wientzen, president and
CEO of the DMA. "By complying with laws governing cross-border
e-mail marketing, we will ensure that this valuable new marketing
channel remains viable."
The release comes less than a week after the DMA delayed
publication of e-mail best practice guidelines that had been
created by its subsidiary, the Association for Interactive
Marketing (AIM).
Officially the DMA is still evaluating the document, but
according to internetnews.com the reason for the delay relates to a
difference in approach between the DMA and AIM over the definition
of 'spam'.
Internetnews reports that while the AIM tends to take the
generally accepted view that spam is unsolicited commercial e-mail,
the DMA prefers a much narrower definition of 'fraudulently sent
e-mail'.
The reality, however, is that spam looks set to continue as long
as there are gullible people who respond to it - as highlighted by
an excellent article in yesterday's Wired News.
Wired's investigation revealed that over the course of four
weeks, 6,000 people responded to spam selling expensive
penis-enlargement pills. Where there's muck, there's brass, as they
say.
