Washington Report

Keeping Members Informed About Regulatory Issues

Contents
March 2000

INTERNET ISSUES

INTERNET TAX STUDY COMMISSION

The Advisory Commission on Electronic Commerce held its fourth and final meeting in March. Although a proposal was worked out, it is supported only by a simple majority, not the 2/3 required to make a recommendation to Congress. For a full report, see the "Catalog Issues Update" section of the newsletter.

ANTI-SPAM BILL ON THE FAST TRACK

First-term Congresswoman Heather Wilson (R-NM) introduced the Unsolicited Electronic Mail Act (H.R. 3113) earlier this month, and it zoomed right through the House Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications. It was originally scheduled to go to the full House Commerce Committee March 28th, but that mark-up has been postponed, and no new date has been set. The bill is co-sponsored by Reps. Gary Miller (R-Calif.) and Gene Green (D-Texas).

The bill would require notice and opt-out on each unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE); a prior existing business relationship with recipients; and an accurate return address and a standardized identifier of UCE in the subject line, to be determined by the FTC. The DMA is opposed to a subject-line identifier, although we would probably support requiring the sender to state in the message, clearly and conspicuously, that it is an advertisement or a solicitation. to include

The legislation requires senders of UCE to follow the rules of the ISP concerning UCE and gives the ISP the right to seek an injunction against those who violate their policies. ISPs would be permitted to charge for delivering UCE and could therefore ban or block UCE unless they were paid to deliver. The bill permits a private right of action, with a penalty of $500 per violation and attorneys' fees. If the bill is approved by the full committee and goes to conference, Rep. Wilson has agreed to add a provision to ban class actions.

Although Rep. Wilson is not opposed to it, the bill does not presently include preemption of state laws, which The DMA would like to see included. Alternatively, we would want state Attorneys General to have the authority to enforce the law.

The DMA has met with Rep. Wilson's staff and will continue to work with them to get the bill modified.

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