Dissatisfied with the effectiveness of its current anti-spam law, the Japanese government amended it in June, according to a recent report by the international law firm Morrison & Foerster.
Most importantly for marketers, the law has been amended to be opt-in based, where prior permission is required to send commercial e-mail, according to the report.
Previously, Japan’s anti-spam law was similar to the U.S. Can Spam Act of 2003 under which marketers are not legally required to gain prior permission to send commercial e-mail, but must honor unsubscribes.
Japan’s new law will go into effect once the government issues an “implementing order,” which it must do by Dec. 6, according to Morrison & Foerster.
Under the new law—which applies to e-mail sent by for-profit entities to and from Japan—marketers may send e-mail to people who have given permission in advance, people who have given the sender their addresses, people who have pre-existing relationships with the sender, and people engaged in for-profit activities who publish their addresses.
Also under the new law, commercial e-mailers to and from Japan must keep records proving they’ve received permission to mail the individuals on their lists, and they also must honor opt-out requests.
Commercial e-mail sent to and from Japan must also include the sender’s name and title and an e-mail address that can be used by the recipient to opt out of future mailings, according to Morrison & Foerster.
Also, the law prohibits sending e-mail to addresses that have been created by randomly stringing together letters and symbols—commonly known as dictionary attacks.
It also bars falsifying or disguising the source of commercial messages.
Violators are subject to fines of up 1 million yen, or a little less than $9,300 at the exchange rate late last week, and up to a year in prison.
