Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Contents
Summary 3
1. Unsolicited mail (junk mail) 4
1.1 Can the delivery of unsolicited mail be stopped? 4
Mailing Preference Service (MPS) 4
Royal Mail’s ‘door to door opt-out’ 5
2. How is misleading content in promotional material regulated? 6
2.1 Unfair commercial practices 6
2.2 Misleading, harmful or offensive advertisements 6
2.3 Data protection rights 7
2.4 Scams and fraudulent activity 7
The scope of the problem 7
Reporting a scam or fraud 8
3. Unsolicited emails (spam) 10
3.1 How can unsolicited emails be stopped? 10
3.2 Protective filtering services or software 10
4. Nuisance Calls: Unsolicited sales and marketing, and silent calls 11
4.1 Silent and unwanted marketing calls 11
4.2 Recent Government actions 11
Calling Line Identification 11
Enforcement action 12
Trends in nuisance calls and texts 12
Cover page image copyright Junk mail by Dvortygirl. Licensed by CC BY-SA 2.0 / image
cropped.
3 Commons Library Briefing, 11 May 2017
Summary
Some individuals object to the amount of unsolicited direct marketing mail or promotions
they receive through their letter box (often referred to as ‘junk mail’). They find unsolicited
mail intrusive and annoying. There are available options to reduce the amount of mail
received.
An individual can register with the Mailing Preference Service (MPS) and thereby have
their details removed from direct marketing mailing lists to reduce the amount of
addressed advertising literature they receive. The MPS covers around 90 per cent of
mailing lists. However, the MPS is not designed to stop unaddressed items of mail, direct
mail delivered to the door or the delivery of free newspapers.
Although mail addressed to the ‘occupant’, ‘resident’ or ‘homeowner’ is not covered by
the MPS scheme, it may be possible for an individual to ‘opt out’ of receiving door-to-door
mail items delivered by Royal Mail or other operators. However, it is fair to say that it is
difficult to stop junk mail that is sent from another country.
This Commons briefing paper provides an outline of what an individual can do to stop
junk mail. It also briefly considers how unsolicited emails (known as ‘spam’) can be
stopped through the use of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive)
Regulations 2003.
A separate Library briefing paper (CBP 6033) (dated 24 June 2016) sets out the
regulations which seek to address “Nuisance calls, unsolicited sales and marketing, and
silent calls”.
4 How can I stop junk mail and emails?
1
Information on the Mailing Preference Service is available on their website:
www.mpsonline.org.uk
2
Mailing Preference Service [online] (accessed 8 December 2014)
5 Commons Library Briefing, 11 May 2017
3
The 2008 Regulations replaced the Control of Misleading Advertisements
Regulations 1988
7 Commons Library Briefing, 11 May 2017
4
HC Deb 8 September 2016 c.507-531
9 Commons Library Briefing, 11 May 2017
Enforcement action
Ofcom takes enforcement action against companies for persistent
misuse of a communications network, including silent and abandoned
calls. Formal enforcement activity Ofcom has taken includes a £750,000
fine on TalkTalk in April 2013, a £60,000 fine on npower in December
2012, and a £750,000 fine on HomeServe in April 2012.
The ICO is able to issue fines up to £500,000 to companies responsible
for nuisance calls and texts. In 2015 the ICO issued over £1 million in
fines to 11 companies relating to nuisance marketing. This included
£400,000 for nuisance texts and £375,000 for nuisance calls.
Trends in nuisance calls and texts
In 2015, the ICO received a total of 168,159 concerns about nuisance
calls and texts, down 4% from 2014. This small fall from a record high
in 2014 might be attributable to enforcement action by the ICO, Ofcom
and the Claims Management Regulator and the widespread media
coverage of nuisance calls in 2015. However, the BBC recently reported
that Which? research shows just 2% of people who receive unwanted
calls report them.
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BRIEFING PAPER or the content of, information maintained by third parties. This information is
Number CBP5762
provided subject to the conditions of the Open Parliament Licence.
11 May 2017