Anti-spam legislation passed six months ago takes effect in New Zealand tomorrow.
Dubbed the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act, the new law prohibits sending any unsolicited commercial e-mail “the has a New Zealand link.” If someone claims they’ve received spam from a New Zealand-based firm, the onus is on the company to prove they had permission to mail.
The new law also requires all commercial e-mail to contain accurate sender information and a functional unsubscribe mechanism. Mailers have five business days to comply with unsubscribe requests. The American Can-Spam Act gives businesses 10 days to comply.
New Zealand’s anti-spam law also prohibits the use of address-harvesting software and mailing to harvested lists.
New Zealand’s legislators gave businesses six months to get their databases in order before putting the law into effect. According to reports, the lag resulted in a torrent of commercial e-mail from New Zealand businesses to people trying to get them to opt in to future mailings.
Penalties under the new law range from warnings to about $350,000 in fines for organizations and about $140,000 for individuals.
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