Unsolicited Electronic Messages Ordinance - Phase I

The Unsolicited Electronic Messages Ordinance (UEMO) comes into force in two phases. Phase I of the Ordinance starts on 1 June 2007, in which:

are prohibited.

Details of the offences are summarised as below:

Part 4 of the UEMO - fraud and other illicit activities related to the sending of multiple commercial electronic messages, including:
  • accessing a telecommunications device without authorisation to send multiple commercial electronic messages;

  • sending of multiple commercial electronic messages from a telecommunications device without authorisation with a view to deceiving or misleading recipients about the source;

  • falsifying header information in multiple commercial electronic messages and sending of such messages;

  • registering for electronic addresses or domain names using information that falsifies the identity of actual registrants to send multiple commercial electronic messages; and

  • falsely representing to be the registrant of an electronic address or a domain name to send multiple commercial electronic messages.
Part 3 of the UEMO - use of unscrupulous techniques to reach out to more recipients, including:
  • supply, acquisition or use of telephone number or email address harvesting software / harvested address lists for sending commercial electronic messages without the consent of the recipients;

  • generating electronic addresses by automated processes to send a commercial electronic message;

  • use of scripts or other automated means to register for 5 or more email addresses to send multiple commercial electronic messages; or

  • relay or retransmission of multiple commercial electronic messages to deceive or mislead recipients as to the source of such messages.