How to deal with spam in different countries

We write a lot in this blog about the principles of legal mailing and how thin the line between advertising, which the user has agreed to receive, and spam. But the reality is that as a result, the decision to conduct the newsletter according to all the rules or send out a million advertising letters on some muddy basis remains solely on the advertiser's conscience. In the west, the situation is fundamentally different, and for Russian companies entering foreign markets, it will be useful to know that an “innocent” mailing to any purchased base of foreign users may be a serious threat to the company's finances, since many countries have already developed legislation directly providing for litigation and fines for each fact of unsolicited mailing. In this review, we collected and systematized information on how spam laws are organized in different countries of the world.

The strictest spam legislation is in Germany and Australia.


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According to the Australian Spam Act 2003, fines can be as high as 1.1 million Australian dollars per day. As a leader in spam mailings at one time, Australia, as a result of the use of harsh sanctions, was able to virtually strangle spam. If Australia is far away, and appears in the history of Russian corporate blunders not so often, then attempts to enter the German market are associated with many sorrows and sorrows generated by ignorance.

For every fact of unsolicited mailing a citizen of Germany has the right to sue and receive compensation - there are cases of an average penalty of 500 euros. A fine may be imposed on top, the amount of which varies depending on whether the delivery is made by an individual or a legal entity. And although the maximum bar is spelled out in legislation at the level of 50,000 euros , the total fine can be in the hundreds of thousands of euros .

You should not rely on the fact that you will not be found - in Germany not only strong legislation, but also some of the best lawyers - as users of the professional site of linkedin note, so there is no doubt that they will find you and they will cover everyone: the service that sent the newsletter (that is, us) and those who have concocted it (that is, we hope that it is not you).

US anti-spam legislation is softer, but provides for imprisonment in addition to fines.

Own strong anti-spam legislation enacted in Australia, Austria, Belgium, China, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Germany, Estonia, Finland, Denmark, Hungary, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, UK and the USA.

Principles of anti-spam policy of foreign countries

It is not entirely advisable to delve into the subtleties of each specific legislative act, since there are general principles on which these laws are based. These principles are as follows:

1. OPT-IN principle

The mailing list is legal only if the user subscribed to it and expressed his consent to receive this kind of information. The user must independently and clearly express their consent to receive the newsletter. Therefore, even innocuous marketing cunning is illegal. For example, the words in small print: “Everyone who has registered on the site - automatically subscribe to the newsletter. If you do not agree - remove the check mark "- a violation of the law, the user can go to sue you and receive compensation. And believe me, an American or a European will not miss the chance to profit at your expense - it’s foolish to refuse money if you just donated it yourself, even without knowing it. Therefore, the first thing you need to find out before you start sending out to the country is whether the opt-in principle is applied in it or not applied, but other formalities must be observed.

2. The principle of OPT-OUT

This is an opportunity to unsubscribe at any time. That is why the line in your letter "if you want to unsubscribe - follow the link" is not just a formula of politeness, or "so accepted" - this is protection from fines and court fights.

3. The principle of identification of the sender

Hiding the address of the sender, trying to hide behind proxy, incorrectly filled in the "From" field - in most of the countries listed above are grounds for starting litigation with you. Also, under this principle falls mandatory indication of the address of the company in the letter.

4. The principle of relevance of content and title

The title of the letter should not be misleading, should correspond to the subject of the letter. As a rule, it is also required that a mark be placed in the body of an advertising letter, meaning that the letter is an advertising letter. For example, the American CAN-SPAM Act (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act) provides, among other things, that an unsolicited commercial mailing should be marked “AD” in the subject line of the letter - short for “Advertisement” - “advertisement” .

5. The ban on the use of software to collect addresses

You can not parse addresses, collect them by browsing Web sites, you can not select them by the method of substitution of characters.
The concept of "spam" is not the same everywhere

It is necessary to make a reservation that in different countries the concept of spam itself is determined differently. In order to be categorically regarded as spam in one country, there may be a limited “loophole” in another. For comparison: in Germany it is permissible to do mailings, if a client has previously bought something from a company. In the UK, only private addresses fall under the scope of anti-spam law, while the law does not apply to work mail. The American anti-spam law does not provide for mandatory compliance with the opt-in principle, but it may cover you with a copper basin for non-compliance with other principles, such as, for example, opt-out, AD mark, sender identification.

Reference material:

1. Study of the International Telecommunications Council , 2005 - in 58 countries of the world
2. Anti-spam legislation by country , a list of Wikipedia resource
3. EU Directive , based on which the anti-spam legislation of most European countries was developed
4. Overview of the application of the law on advertising of the Russian Federation to the spread of spam
5. German Unfair Competition Act Governing Mailing List Marketing in the Country: Fines up to 50,000 Euros
6. North American CAN-SPAM Act and recommendations for business in accordance with its requirements
7. Australian Spam Act 2003 is one of the toughest anti-spam legislation.

And for a snack - the previous post in our blog was just about how UniSender is struggling with the attempts of spammers to use our service: How does UniSender antispam work .

PS Read useful materials and ask questions about email marketing to our specialists on the UniSender facebook page . Like ?