Re: recent decisions in EEC commissions?

On Fri, 13 Jul 2001 22:14:20 +0200, Rudi van Houten
<R.vanHouten@localhost wrote:

> In some news documents (www.webwereld.nl) I read that the commission 
> that deliberated about UCE had decided to adhere to the opt-out 
> principle on July 11. There seems not te be made a decision in the 
> European Parliament yet. Does someone know where to find more 
> information about what is going on? And someone has a positive 
> suggestion about what to do? I couldn't find information at CAUCE yet.

It was the European Parliament's Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and
Rights, Justice and Home Affairs.  This is the leading committee whose
report goes on to the full Parliament.  Documents relating to the
amendments considered by the Committee can be seen at
http://www.europarl.eu.int/meetdocs/committees/libe/20010710/LIBE20011007.htm

Joe McNamee of EuroISPA reported the decision as follows:-

| The amendments adopted are below. Bizarrely, an anti-spam recital (an
| explanatory note) tabled by Graham Watson was adopted before the committee
| went on to vote against banning spam. Basically, the two words "and e-mail"
| were deleted from the Commission's proposed text.
| 
| The recital which was adopted and then rejected by the vote on the articles
| of the Directive is as follows - new text in <<angle brackets>>
| 
| Safeguards should be provided for subscribers against intrusion of their
| privacy by means of unsolicited calls, telefaxes, electronic mails and other
| forms of communications for direct marketing purposes. Member States may
| limit such safeguards to subscribers who are natural persons. <<The proposal
| to include unsolicited commercial electronic communications in the scope of
| article 13.1 is essential in order to deal with the specificities of
| electronic messaging. The costs and "nuisance factor" involved in
| unsolicited commercial electronic messages, particularly on mobile devices,
| is substantially greater than offline postal mail. The proposal of a ban on
| unsolicited commercial electronic communications should not, therefore,
| infer any alteration to provisions of Community law relating to offline
| commercial communications>>
| 
| The new text of Article 13 now reads as follows:
| 
| 1. The use of automated calling systems without human intervention
| (automatic calling machines) or facsimile machines (fax) for the purposes of
| direct marketing may only be allowed in respect of subscribers who have
| given their prior consent.
| 
| 1a. In addition, Member States shall take appropriate measures to ensure
| that other commercial communications by a service provider established in
| their territory shall be identifiable clearly and unambiguously as such, as
| soon as it is received by the subscriber.
| 
| 1b. Member States shall ensure that service providers undertaking
| unsolicited commercial communications by means others than those in
| paragraph 1 regularly consult and respect the opt-out registers in which
| natural persons not wishing to receive such commercial communications.
| 
| 2. Member States shall take appropriate measures to ensure that, free of
| charge and in an easy and clear manner, unsolicited communications for
| purposes of direct marketing, by means other than those referred to in
| paragraph 2, are not allowed either without the consent of the subscribers
| concerned or in respect of subscribers who do not wish to receive these
| communications, the choice between these options to be determined by
| national legislation.
| 
| 2 a (new) Senders of unsolicited electronic mail shall supply with their
| messages an address to which the recipient may send a request that such
| communications cease.
| 
| 3. The provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 shall apply to 
| subscribers who are natural persons. Member States shall also 
| ensure, in the framework of Community law and applicable 
| national legislation, that the legitimate interests of 
| subscribers other than natural persons with regard to 
| unsolicited communications are sufficiently protected.

We'll get something on the EuroCAUCE site soon.  Meanwhile, write to your
MEP urging him or her to support the ban on UCE proposed in the Commission
draft and the opinions of the Environment and Industry Committees.  The
first reading is scheduled for September.

GEM(B.)