Federal Trade Commission Issues New CAN-SPAM Act Regulations

After a delay of exactly three years, the FTC has provided new guidance and additional rule changes implementing the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.  The FTC's Statement is especially important for companies that engage in joint e-mail marketing campaigns, provide "forward-to-a-friend" mechanisms, or transmit any of a wide range of "transactional or relationship" messages.  The following summary describes and analyzes some key provisions of the rule changes and the FTC's accompanying explanatory statement.

The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 ("CAN-SPAM Act" or "Act") is the principal federal statute affecting the use of e-mail as an advertising and promotion channel.¹  The CAN-SPAM Act does not prohibit e-mail advertising, but it prohibits certain fraudulent and misleading practices in connection with e-mail advertising.  The Act also requires e-mail advertisers to label those messages as commercial, give recipients