The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has accepted an enforceable undertaking offered by Commonwealth Securities Limited (CommSec), following complaints that commercial electronic messages continued to be sent to customers after consent had been withdrawn.

The ACMA also identified that email campaigns conducted by CommSec in January, February and March 2009, did not provide an option to unsubscribe.

The Spam Act requires that all commercial electronic messages include some form of unsubscribe facility, and that when a person or business withdraws their consent, they receive no further messages from that provider.

In addition to reviewing its compliance systems, CommSec has undertaken to pay to the Commonwealth a financial component of $55,000. An implementation plan has been agreed with the ACMA which includes the appointment of an independent consultant to assess CommSec’s system reviews, quarterly audits on its email campaigns for 12 months and the introduction of an annual training program. CommSec will report regularly to the ACMA on its progress.