Written question asked by Lord Bellingham (Conservative) on Wednesday, 3 December 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 15 December 2003. It was answered by Stephen Timms (Labour) on Monday, 15 December 2003 on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Dept of Trade and Industry

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, what steps she is taking to harmonise international laws on the sending of unsolicited e-mails.

Answer: Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps she is taking to harmonise international laws on the sending of unsolicited emails. [142131] Mr. Timms: The UK is active in international discussions on how to tackle the global problem of unwanted e-mail advertising, both in multilateral fora (such as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) and bilaterally with the USA and other national governments. The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, which took effect on 11 December, implement the EU-wide approach in the Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications (Directive 2002/58/EC) of 18 September 2003.

Secondary information