ANTISPAM RULES COULD BLOCK NEWS (NETHERLANDS PRIVACY)

Antispam rules could block news (Netherlands privacy) Opinion in the Dutch national financial newspaper Financieele Dagblad of 3 April 2008 The amended Dutch Telecommunications Act that was recently discussed in the Dutch parliament, will cause an earthquake in the pr industry in the Netherlands. Sending electronic messages with a commercial, ideal or charitable meaning to companies will be prohibited, if no prior permission has been granted. This rule, an implementation of European Directives, already applies to similar communications to persons. The rules are likely to apply to press releases as well. The ‘spam prohibition’ already lead to high penalties in the consumer market. The spam ban is a positive development, but the pr industry (pr bureaus and pr departments within companies) is difficult to be caught in this law. A prohibition could also apply to unrequested messages like press releases, as these could often be considered as a ‘commercial communication’. Should Apple’s press release as to its newest notebook Mac Air be seen as unwanted advertising? And what if the communication also mentions the price of the latest notebook? This could be a bridge to far for a national newspaper, but for a computer magazine it is likely to be essential information! Without adequate agreements between the press and the pr industry, the news may be withheld from journalists, and the pr industry risks high fines up to a few hundred thousand Euros. As a (positive) side affect the new Act could cause that the relationship between journalists and spokesmen will eventually be mature. Professional press officers and pr consultants will be able to provide better results for their clients by calling on their solid relationships with journalists. They are familiar with the rules and respect the journalist’s work. And the journalist knows that a real pr consultant does not spam. The pr and communication sector should put energy in putting up compliance programs for logging contact data like e-mail addresses, but also facsimile and mobile phone numbers. In addition the pr sector will have to arrange for prior consent by the journalist, before providing any information, and to adequately log the given consent: the sender must be able to prove that prior consent has been given. Also the journalist has a responsibility in this, e.g. by seriously replying to requests for permission for the use of his or her e-mail address, coming from professional press officers. Otherwise the journalist should accept that he or she will be missing possibly relevant news. By David Gribnau, pr consultant and Maarten Haak, advocaat intellectual property at Hoogenraad & Haak advocaten (advertising + IP).

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ANTISPAM RULES COULD BLOCK NEWS (NETHERLANDS PRIVACY)