The Unsolicited Electronic Messages Ordinance
By
Raymond Poon
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The Hong Kong SAR Government has recently enacted The Unsolicited Electronic
Messages Ordinance (UEMO). Phase I of the Ordinance commenced operation on 1
June 2007, and Phase II will come into effect on a date to be decided and
notified by Gazette, probably towards the end of 2007.
The CIO wrote to all departments on 26 June, 2007 to invite them to review
their existing promotional activities in the light of the new Ordinance. Other
than a number of telephone enquiries, no particular issues on compliance of the
Ordinance were raised by the departments. It would appear that the sending of
"unsolicited electronic messages" to an externally acquired mailing list is not
a prevalent practice. The University, therefore, may not need to establish any
specific policy or guidelines on the UEMO other than stipulating:
"Departments wishing to use electronic messages to send to an external
mailing list to promote any University/departmental activity must observe and
comply with the requirements of the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Ordinance."
In this connection, staff’s awareness on UEMO will be promoted through
regular seminars, staff orientation programme, and e-learning.
A list of references on the UEMO can be found at
http://www.ofta.gov.hk/en/uem/main.html
while a list of Frequently Asked Questions summarizing the UEMO can be found at
http://www.ofta.gov.hk/en/uem/faq.html.