Minister publishes draft regulations to combat spam

The Minister for Communications, Dermot Ahern, has initiated a public consultation process on draft regulations to combat spam.

The Minister is drawing up draft regulations transposing into Irish law an EU Commission directive personal data and privacy in the electronic communications sector.

It is intended that protections already there covering personal data and privacy in the telecoms sector will be extended to all electronic communications networks and services.

The main features of the draft regulations are:

Right of subscribers to determine which of their personal data are included in a publicly available directory of subscribers.

Requirement to inform subscribers of the respective purposes of publicly available directories and to ensure that their consent to be included in the directory is based on full information about the ways in which their personal data can be used or accessed.

Provision for the processing of traffic and location data, with the consent of subscribers or users, for the purpose of providing value added services.

Possibility for subscribers and users, using a simple means, to temporarily deny processing of their location data.

Confidentiality provisions extended to the use of electronic communications networks to store information or to gain access to information stored in the terminal equipment of a subscriber or user. Specific provisions to deal with cookies and similar devices are included.

Restrictions on unsolicited direct marketing by email, SMS, fax and automated calling systems. Provisions for enforcement of regulatory decisions by Comreg and the Data Protection Commissioner, including powers for investigations of suspected breaches of the Regulations.