WRITTEN QUESTION E-2344/02 by Jillian Evans (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. Unsolicited mail.
Date: 2002-07-29
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: advertising, consumer protection, data protection, electronic commerce, electronic mail, regulation of telecommunications, trade regulations

C 52 E/156

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

6.3.2003

One of the industrial activity sectors where such an information exchange takes place is the thermal
treatment of waste. In this work several techniques for thermal waste treatment are scrutinized and at a
later stage it
is determined whether the discussed techniques are considered as BAT or emerging
techniques. Plasma treatment could be discussed in such an information exchange if detailed information
on the technique were to be delivered to the European IPPC Bureau.

For the time being the Commission is not able to give any further assessment of this technology.

As regards the needs for research, the Commission is supporting research and technological development
projects. For instance, one project deals with the vitrification of hospitals waste.

(1) OJ L 257, 10.10.1996.

(2003/C 52 E/174)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2344/02

by Jillian Evans (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(29 July 2002)

Subject: Unsolicited mail

Unsolicited mail and telephone calls are not only considered a nuisance to many people throughout
Europe but can also be intimidating, misleading and confusing, especially for the most vulnerable members
of society who may be led to believe that they should part with their money, banking details, credit card
numbers or other personal details.

Could the Commission say what can be done on a Europe-wide basis to protect consumers from receiving
misleading unsolicited mail, often from companies based outside the consumer’s Member State or outside
the EU?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(30 September 2002)

The Honourable Member has raised the issue of unsolicited mail and telephone calls. The Commission’s
reply assumes that unsolicited mail is not limited to unsolicited correspondence via the post, and that the
question is intended also to cover electronic mail.

Community law has already addressed the problem of telephone calls and unsolicited mail directed to
consumers, including so-called e-mail ‘spam’.

Directive 97/66/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 15 October 1997, concerning the processing
of personal data and the protection of privacy in the telecommunications sector (1),
is of particular
relevance for unsolicited calls for direct marketing purposes. Directive 2002/58/EC of the Parliament and
of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in
the electronic communications sector (Directive on privacy and electronic communications) (2), which
applies from 31 October 2003, will replace and strengthen the rules concerning the processing of personal
data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector. Under this new Directive,
which was adopted under the co-decision procedure, e-mails or SMS sent for direct marketing purposes to
natural persons will only be allowed where users have given their prior consent (so-called opt-in system),
except in the context of an existing relationship and then only for similar products (see Article 13 of this
Directive) as it is already the case for unsolicited faxes and telephone calls via automatic calling machines.
As regards direct marketing calls ‘with human intervention’, Member States will still be able to decide
between an opt-in and an opt-out regime. Disguising the identity of the sender or providing an invalid
return address will be prohibited. This regime is applicable for electronic communications to all recipients
in the Union, irrespective of the origin of the communication.

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Official Journal of the European Union

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Directive 95/46/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 1995, on the protection of
individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (3)
regulates the processing of personal data that are used for sending unsolicited mail.
In particular,
Article 14(b) of this Directive provides for the right of the data subject to object (on request and free of
charge) to the processing of personal data relating to him which the controller anticipates being processed
for the purposes of direct marketing, or to be informed before personal data are disclosed for the first time
to third parties or used on their behalf for the purposes of direct marketing. Then the data subject must be
expressly offered the right to object (free of charge) to such disclosures or uses. In addition, Member States
must take the necessary measures to ensure that data subjects are aware of the existence of this right.

in particular e-commerce,

Directive 2000/31/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of
information society services,
(the e-commerce
Directive) (4), as well as Directive 97/7/EC of the Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 1997, on the
protection of consumers in respect of distance contracts (the Distant Selling Directive) (5) are without
prejudice to this data protection regime. For other means of distance communication, such as printed mail,
Article 10(2) of the Distant Selling Directive obliges Member States to ensure that they may be used in
distance sales only where there is no clear objection from the consumer. The importance of this so-called
‘opt-out’ model is underlined by recital 17. Article 12(2) of Directive 97/7/EC assures the application of its
rules vis-à-vis third countries.

in the internal market

Article 7 of the e-commerce Directive requires in particular that unsolicited commercial communication
must be clearly identifiable and unambiguously as such.
In Member States permitting unsolicited
commercial e-mails, service providers should regularly consult and respect the opt-out registers in which
natural persons not wishing to receive such commercial communication can register themselves (see also
recitals 30 and 31). These registers, sometimes illustratively labelled ‘Robinson lists’, enable the consumer
to prevent spamming in e-commerce. Those Member States which have established an opt-out system will
have to adapt their national legislation to the mentioned new Directive 2002/58/EC on privacy for the
sending of unsolicited commercial communications to natural persons. Nonetheless, the new opt-in regime
does not automatically apply to legal persons (Article 13.5 of Directive 2002/58/EC). However, Member
States do need to ensure that
legal persons with regard to unsolicited
communications are sufficiently protected.

the legitimate interests of

Similarly, Article 10.2 of the Directive on the distance marketing of consumer financial services, adopted
on 26 June 2002 (6), follows the opt in/opt out approach for unsolicited mail or telephone calls. Member
States have the choice between banning unsolicited communications unless prior consent has been sought,
or else allowing them on condition that the consumer has not expressed his manifest objection. The
Distance Marketing Directive is also without prejudice to the new rules covered under Directive 2002/58/
EC.

(1) OJ L 24, 30.1.1998.
(2) OJ L 201, 31.7.2002.
(3) OJ L 281, 23.11.1995.
(4) OJ L 178, 17.7.2000.
(5) OJ L 144, 4.6.1997.
(6) Not published yet.

(2003/C 52 E/175)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2360/02

by Charles Tannock (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(2 August 2002)

Subject: Air Safety in the light of the Überlingen disaster

Following the collision of a Russian airliner and a cargo aircraft over Überlingen at the beginning of July in
which seventy-one people, mostly children, were killed, a number of system failures were identified. These
included the switching-off of a collision warning system as well as a telephone system at the Zurich