The Spam Act 2003 prohibits unsolicited commercial electronic messages with an Australian link from 10 April 2004.  Penalties for breach range up to $1.1 million per day, in addition to orders for recovery of profits from spammers and payment of compensation to victims.  The supply or use of address-harvesting software or harvested email lists for the purposes of sending spam is also prohibited.

The Act also requires that all commercial electronic messages include accurate sender information and a functional unsubscribe facility.

To supplement and detail these basic legislative prohibitions and requirements, the new legislation provides for the e-marketing industry to develop codes of practice about e-marketing activities.  The code will be registered with the Australian Communications Authority (ACA) and the ACA will be able to direct industry members to comply.

The internet industry is also developing codes of practice about the technological, educational and commercial steps that the internet industry can take to help prevent spam.  The code will be registered with the ACA and the ACA will be able to direct industry members to comply.