On May 12, 2008, the FTC finally issued final rules four years after the CAN-Spam Act was signed into law, and three years after the Notice of Proposed Rule was first published.   While the FTC published rules in January 2005 establishing criteria for determining the “primary purpose” of an e-mail message, many businesses were waiting for clarification on issues such as “forward-a-friend” e-mail campaigns, employer-to-employee messages and revisions to the definition of “sender” in the context of e-mail messages with multiple advertisers.

Effective on July 7, the new rules will:

- Prohibit an e-mail recipient from being required to pay a fee, provide personally identifying information, or take any steps other than sending a reply email or visiting one webpage in order to opt out of further commercial e-mail from the sender.

- Modify the criteria used to determine the “sender” of a commercial email so that multiple advertisers can determine who is responsible for complying with the Act.

-Clarify that  a “sender” of commercial e-mail can include an accurately-registered post office box or private mailbox established under United States Postal Service regulations to satisfy the Act’s requirement that a commercial e-mail display a “valid physical postal address;” and

- add a definition for the term “person” to clarify that the Act’s obligations are not limited to natural persons.

• In the FTC’s accompanying Statement of Basis and Purpose (SBP), it also addressed topics that were not the subject of new rules, such as how the Act applies to various categories of “transactional or relationship messages,” as well as to forward-to-a-friend email campaigns.  The SBP explains that, as a general matter, if the seller offers something of value in exchange for forwarding a commercial message, the seller must comply with the Act’s requirements, such as making required disclosures and honoring opt-out requests.
• The FTC did not issue new rules on other topics, such as shortening or extending the length of time a sender of commercial email has to honor an opt-out request – the time remains at 10 days.
• The FTC also determined that most employer-to-employee e-mails are not “commercial” messages for the purposed of the Act.

To view the final rule please visit the FTC website or follow the link below:

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/05/canspam.shtm