The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has accepted an enforceable undertaking from Virgin Blue Airlines following an investigation into complaints alleging that the company continued to send commercial emails despite recipients’ multiple attempts to unsubscribe from its mailing list.

The enforceable undertaking commits Virgin Blue to review its email marketing practices. Virgin Blue has also made payment of $110,000 as part of the undertaking.

The Spam Act requires that commercial emails have a working unsubscribe facility. No further commercial electronic messages are allowed to be sent to the consumer five working days after an unsubscribe request is made.

To achieve better compliance with this obligation, Virgin Blue will engage an independent third party to thoroughly assess its email marketing processes and to implement any recommended changes. It will also provide training to relevant employees, establish a complaints handling policy, and audit 10 per cent of its email marketing campaigns monthly for a year.