Hong Kong Attacks Spam with Legislation

Hong Kong will be able to enjoy less junk mail under the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Ordinance, which was enacted by the Legislative Council in May 2007 and came into effect on June 1 2007. Businesses which send commercial electronic messages must now clearly identify themselves and provide a way for recipients to unsubscribe from further messages.

While ordinary citizens will surely rejoice, businesses of all types have suddenly found themselves questioning their previous methods of marketing. The American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, for example, is concerned about the protection of pre-existing business relationships in the context of spam mail. In cases where recipients of messages have chosen or expect to accept them, as part of transactions for example, it would not make sense to be required to provide an 'unsubscribe' function.

A 'do-not-email' register might also block messages that the would-be recipient expects as part of business transactions. "AmCham considers that senders should not be prohibited from sending a commercial electronic message to a person listed in a do-not-call register where there is a pre-existing business relationship between the sender and the person listed on the register," the organization stated in a position paper.