****************************************************
An enforcement notice was issued today (January 23) under the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Ordinance against a commercial fax sender who has continuously breached the legal requirements.
A spokesman for the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) said, "Despite our advice, the concerned sender kept sending messages to the numbers registered onto the do-not-call register. We therefore decided to issue the enforcement notice to direct the sender to comply with the legal requirements.
"This is the first enforcement notice issued under the ordinance. We will monitor the case closely to ensure that the concerned sender will undertake proper rectification measures in accordance with the enforcement notice. We will consider taking prosecution action if the concerned sender fails to comply with the enforcement notice. Any person who contravenes an enforcement notice is liable upon a first conviction to a fine of HK$100,000," the spokesman added.
Since the full commencement of the ordinance on December 22, 2007, to January 20, 2009, OFTA has received 9,217 reports of suspected contravention of which 6,514 have been dealt with (71% of total received reports).
"Among the cases dealt with, 67 warning letters have been issued. In these cases, the concerned senders have undertaken rectification measures and hence no enforcement notice was warranted. We will continue to monitor those senders to whom warning letters have been issued and will consider taking further action should they be found in breach of the ordinance again," the spokesman said.
Senders of commercial electronic messages (CEMs) are urged to observe the requirements under the ordinance. In particular, they are not allowed to send CEMs to numbers which have been registered onto the do-not-call registers, unless consent has been obtained.
Under the ordinance, three do-not-call registers have been established for facsimile messages, short messages and pre-recorded telephone messages. People can unsubscribe from unsolicited CEMs by registering their telephone/fax numbers onto the do-not-call registers. As at January 20, 2009, 1.48 million telephone and fax numbers have been registered onto the three do-not-call registers.
For more details about the ordinance and do-not-call registers, please see OFTA's website at www.ofta.gov.hk/en/uem/main.html.
Ends/Friday, January 23, 2009
Issued at HKT 17:08
NNNN
