Brussels, 26/01/2004 (Agence Europe) - The volume of unsolicited e-mail ("spam") has reached disturbing proportions: over 50% of electronic mail sent and received throughout the world is "spam", compared to only 7% in 2001. Anticipating the danger this phenomenon represents for the development of the information society, the EU has adopted a directive on privacy and communications (2002/58/EC), bringing in the principle of "opt-in", i.e. obligatory previous consent to be able to send electronic mail for commercial ends (including SMS or MMS messages), and added guarantees for consumers. According to the European Commission, the adoption of this legislation is just "one part of the answer". For this reason, it has just presented a communication including a series of actions which are "necessary to complete EU rules and "make the spam ban a reality". These actions are based notably around the effective application of the legislation by Member States and the public authorities on technical solutions and industry self-regulation, and raising awareness among consumers. The international dimension was also flagged up, given that North America (United States and Canada) is the main source of spam.
The Commission believes that the sheer magnitude of spam could lead users of e-mail or SMS to give up, or to use electronic messaging and mobile services in a much more limited way- and these are essential factors in the growth of productivity in the modern economy. Even though there is consensus in the circles in question that something must be done before the proliferation of spam cancels out all the advantages of electronic messaging and other on-lines services available to business and individuals, "finding the best weapons for the fight is not that easy", said the Commission. It also acknowledged that "there is, unfortunately, no 'silver bullet' for spam". It warned that the scale of the problem may mean that it can only be curtailed effectively if all those involved do their bit, from the Member States and the competent authorities to the consumers and users of Internet and electronic communications, and business.
The actions proposed in the communication adopted on 22 January are aimed at these stakeholders, and are of three kinds: 1) actions to implement and monitor the application: these are aimed mainly at government and public authorities, in fields such as recourse and penalties, complaints mechanisms, cross-border complaints, co-operation with third countries and monitoring; 2) self-regulatory and technical actions: principally aimed at market players in fields such as contractual arrangements, codes of conduct, acceptable marketing practices, labels, alternative dispute-settlement systems, technical solutions such as filtering, and security; 3) awareness-raising: this covers prevention, consumer education, complaints mechanisms, to be adopted by governments and public authorities, market players, consumer associations and the like.
The Commission indicates that these actions (which are summarised in a table at the end of the communication- http: //europa.eu.int/eur-lex/pri/en/dpi/cnc/doc/2004/com2004_0028en01.doc), "are all interlinked in several ways", implying that "they will have to be implemented in parallel and in an integrated fashion". It also recognises that "some of the actions planned will entail a certain cost, but this is the price to pay if electronic mail and electronic services are to remain an efficient communication tool".