Are your marketing practices spam? New guidance can assist

Does your early childhood education and care (ECEC) service use automated processes to respond to parents or caregivers’ enquiries and regularly send newsletters and updates? 

 

It is important to know where the law stands before sending these materials as the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has fined businesses for breaching the Spam Act 2003 (Cth). 

 

Many of those breaches are related to lax marketing practices and slow procedures for things like allowing people to unsubscribe or opt out from communications. Ignoring your legal obligations can carry harsh penalties. 

 

To assist businesses, the ACMA has released a Statement of Expectations – Use of consent in telemarketing and e-marketing which sets out its views on the minimum requirements to comply with the Spam Act and the Do Not Call Register Act 2006 (Cth).

 

As a precaution, ECEC services should review their current consent practices and how they collect data to ensure any data collected for one purpose is not used for another without consent. 

 

In a broader privacy context, the Federal Government has agreed that one of the changes to be introduced in the Privacy Act reforms this year include strengthening privacy for children. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has been tasked with providing guidelines around many areas and the privacy of children and vulnerable people is one of those areas.

 

Responsible telemarketing and e-marketing practices

 

Some key takeaways from the ACMA statement for ECEC services are:

 

• ensure you have the express consent from parents/caregivers with clear terms and conditions about your communication and information collection practices
• carefully consider whether to use implied consent and use it only when there is a clear, ongoing relationship between the parents or caregivers and the centre and the services being marketed are directly related to that relationship
• ensure that when parents or caregivers want to unsubscribe from marketing materials, there is a straightforward option. 

 

Don’t:

 

• place parents’ contact details on marketing lists or databases without consent
• assume consent is provided through one-off purchases by parents
• Re-contact parents who have unenrolled or unsubscribed to encourage them to re-enrol or re-subscribe unless they have given consent to do so.

 

To see the full list, visit the ACMA’s website here.

 

Tip

 

Consent is required before sending a marketing-related email, regardless of its content. An email asking for consent is subject to the same requirements as an email marketing your learning centre.

 

Key takeaways

 

It is important for ECEC service managers to know and understand their legal obligations regarding consent, information collection and storage as well as the need to provide an easy and clear way for people to unsubscribe and opt out from your communications. Not adhering to the law carries significant penalties and the ACMA has made it clear it is willing to act when there are breaches. 

 

For further insight about spam laws, see here and here.

 

If your centre needs any assistance with managing consent flows and compliance generally, please contact Holding Redlich General Counsel Lyn Nicholson here. 

 

Disclaimer

The information in this publication is of a general nature and is not intended to address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity. Although we endeavour to provide accurate and timely information, we do not guarantee that the information in this article is accurate at the date it is received or that it will continue to be accurate in the future.