118/07
Monday 27 August 2007

Response to Spam Act Review and commencement of consultation on unsolicited commercial faxes

The Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator the Hon Helen Coonan, today invited community and business comment on the impact of unsolicited commercial faxes (fax spam) on Australians.

“The Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts has developed a fax spam discussion paper to consult with the fax marketing industry and all those affected by fax spam.”

This consultation forms part of the Australian Government’s response to the review of the Spam Act 2003, which was also released by Senator Coonan today. A key recommendation of the review was that consultation on unsolicited commercial faxes be undertaken to determine whether action is required.

 “The review was an opportunity to examine whether the Spam Act was operating successfully and the review found that Australia’s anti-spam strategy has been very effective in reducing Australian-generated spam,” Senator Coonan said.

“The Australian Government will also act on the review’s recommendation to build on Australia’s international collaborative efforts to prevent spam.

“An important step in reducing international levels of spam is to reduce the potential for the establishment of spam ‘havens’ in the region that undermine global efforts to minimise spam,” Senator Coonan said.

“The Australian Government, in addition to its important existing work on a number of international anti-spam agreements, will work with a number of Pacific Island countries to develop anti-spam policy and legislation and build local enforcement capacity in projects funded in part by AusAID’s Pacific Governance Support Program.”

“I have also asked the industry regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to develop additional educational material to improve public and business awareness of Australia’s anti-spam strategy,” Senator Coonan said.

The material will assist consumers and businesses to understand their rights and obligations under the legislation and provide tips on how to reduce the amount of spam they receive.

The Australian Government’s full response to the Spam Act Review and copies of the Departmental fax spam discussion paper are available at www.dcita.gov.au/spam. The closing date for comments and submissions in response to the discussion paper is 17 September 2007.

Media contact:  Katherine Meier 0417 441 141