Hong Kong Anti SPAM Law... ALB Article

See our latest update on the Hong Kong Anti-SPAM Law here.


It is no exaggeration to describe eMarketing as a revolution for the marketing industry. For the first time, it gives businesses of any size the ability to publish to the mass market, making, it easy to get the word out and drum up new business, whilst getting your brand in thousands of mailboxes. You can even track to see how successful the e-mail was with statistics to tell you who opened the e-mail and which links they clicked on! They can even track if you forwarded it to a friend. All this gives valuable feedback in order to see which services, products or articles are best received by your clients… But is it legal?

Hong Kong has promised plans to enact an anti-spam law later in the year, to crack down on companies that send unsolicited e-mails. Consensus is that Hong Kong will follow most of the policies laid down by the Australian Spam Act 2003, which came into force on April 10th 2004. Many documents on these policies can be downloaded from www.acma.gov.au under the internet section.

The Australian act also carries with it severe penalties for anyone who breaches it, of up to AU $1.1 million for each day that the breach continues. Here are some basic recommendations to make sure your eMarketing system does not land you with a hefty fine:

• You must clearly identify the person or organisation that sent or authorised the sending of the message
• You must clearly identify the person or organisation that you are sending the message to (no undisclosed recipients)
• You must include a functional unsubscribe facility (not type your e-mail or reply with REMOVE as your subject)
• You must not acquire, use or borrow e-mail harvesting software
• You must have one of two forms of consent, express or inferred
• You must be able to substantiate receipt of consent

The bottom two are of debate as to if Hong Kong will adopt an “opt-in” or “opt-out” approach.

Most companies do not realise that they could also become an “Accidental Spammer” – this is where a hacker can take over your mail server and use your IP address to send out millions of e-mails for their benefits. Here are recommendations on how not to be caught out by this:

• Use anti-virus software, and ensure it is updated regularly
• Use personal firewall software
• Download and install the latest security patches for your computer system
• Attachments to e-mail messages can be dangerous. Only open them if you know what they contain and who has sent them to you. Otherwise, it is safest to delete them immediately. If you do need to open an attachment, run it through up-to-date anti-virus software first; and
• Use long and random passwords

It is not clear as to how severe the fines will be if your server is highjacked but it does show you need systems, procedures and software in place, sooner rather than later.

One company who offers world class secure hosting for e-mail and web database applications, and have developed one of Hong Kong’s leading eMarketing software (nominated for the 2005 IT and Innovations awards) is Compelite (www.compelite.net).

With many clients in the Asia region such as leading law firms, property companies, hotels, leading retail chains as well as many SME’s, chambers, schools and associations, Compelite manage millions of trusted e-mail addresses each month.

Ideal eMarketing items for law companies include newsletters, new appointments, case studies, new offices, mergers, briefs and other updates. What makes Compelite’s system unique is the integration of the events booking system, allowing the receiver to register for events directly from the e-mail without the need to fill in forms, as their details are already in the email database. This then allows you to have full statistics of each person in the database. Ideal for arranging seminars, training courses or just social gatherings. The system now includes a survey system for creating on-line questions and answers and can give you real time statistics of the results. Making it true end to end eMarketing solution.

Download the PDF article on the Hong Kong Anti SPAM Law

For more information contact Mr Garry Smith (Managing Director), Compelite LimitedCentral, Hong Kong +852 2524 3303 www.compelite.net