Brussels, 15/10/2003 (Agence Europe) - Just a few days before the deadline of 31 October set for the transposition of the new "Privacy and electronic communications" directive, which bans the sending of unsolicited commercial communications ("spam") to physical persons, Erkki Liikanen, European Commissioner for companies and the information society, is to hold a workshop on the subject in Brussels on Thursday 16 October. According to the directive, which was adopted in July 2002 on data of a personal nature and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (see EUROPE of 2 July 2002), except within the limited context of existing client-supplier relations, commercial prospecting via electronic mail is only permitted if the receiver has given his or her prior consent. This system based on explicit prior consent also covers text messages and other electronic messages sent to a fixed or mobile post.
Over 200 participants representing the Member States, business and other interested parties will discuss ways in which the policy banning spam can be made as effective as possible. The workshop will also look into additional measures needed to tackle various aspects (technical, education, or those related to the application of the rules) of the fight against spam. The Commission will use the results to put together a communication to present by the end of the year. "Even if the Member States respect their commitments and transpose the spam ban by the planned time-scale, the legislation is, in fact, a mere first stage", said Erkki Liikanen. In order to stimulate debate, the Commission has published a reflection document laying out a draft strategy for fighting unsolicited communications, looking at the legal, technical and educational aspects (this document is available of the website of DG Information Society: http: //europa.eu.int/information_society/ topics/ecomm/doc/highlights/current_spotlights/spam/310_01_issue_paper_workshopspam_wed.doc).
According to various estimations, as of last August, unsolicited e-mail represented 50% of all electronic mail in the world, and 46% of traffic in the European Union. This is a staggering increase given that in April 2001, the proportion of unsolicited electronic messages throughout the world was "only" 7%.