ASSEMBLY, No. 586

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

209th LEGISLATURE

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2000 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman BARBARA BUONO

District 18 (Middlesex)

Assemblyman GEORGE F. GEIST

District 4 (Camden and Gloucester)

Co-Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman Weinberg, Assemblymen LeFevre, Jones and Guear

SYNOPSIS

    Requires e-mailed unsolicited advertising materials to meet certain requirements.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

    Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.

(Sponsorship Updated As Of: 3/17/2000)

An Act concerning certain unsolicited electronic mail and supplementing chapter 38A of Title 2A of the Revised Statutes.

    Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

    1. As used in this act:

    "E-mail" or "cause to be e-mailed" does not include or refer to the transmission of any documents by a telecommunications company or Internet service provider to the extent that the telecommunications company or Internet service provider merely carries that transmission over its network.

    "Electronic mail service provider" means any business or organization qualified to do business in this State that provides individuals, corporations, or other entities the ability to send or receive electronic mail through equipment located in this State and that is an intermediary in sending or receiving electronic mail.

    "Unsolicited e-mail document" means any electronically mailed (e-mailed) document consisting of advertising material for the lease, sale, rental, gift offer, or other disposition of any realty, goods, services, or extension of credit that meet both of the following requirements:

    a. The document is addressed to a recipient with whom the initiator does not have an existing business relationship; and

    b. The document is not sent at the request of, or with the express consent of, the recipient.

    2. a. A person conducting business in this State shall not electronically mail (e-mail) or cause to be e-mailed, an unsolicited e-mail document unless that person establishes a toll-free telephone number or valid sender-operated return e-mail address that the recipient of the unsolicited e-mail document may call or e-mail to notify the sender not to e-mail any further unsolicited e-mail documents.

    b. Upon notification by a recipient of the recipient's request not to receive any further unsolicited e-mailed documents, a person conducting business in this State shall not e-mail or cause to be e-mailed any unsolicited e-mail documents to that recipient.

    3. a. All unsolicited e-mail documents subject to the provisions of this act shall include a statement informing the recipient of the toll-free telephone number that the recipient may call, or a valid return address to which the recipient may write or e-mail, as the case may be, to notify the sender not to e-mail any further unsolicited e-mail documents to the e-mail address or addresses specified by the recipient. The statement shall be the first text in the body of the message and shall be of the same size as the majority of the text of the message.

    b. In the case of e-mail which consists of unsolicited advertising material for the lease, sale, rental, gift offer or other disposition of any realty, goods, services or extensions of credit, the subject line of each and every message shall include "ADV:" as the first four characters. If these messages contain information that consists of unsolicited advertising material for the lease, sale, rental, gift offer or other disposition of any realty, goods, services or extensions of credit, that may only be viewed, purchased, rented, leased or held in possession of any individual 18 years of age and older, the subject line of each and every message shall include "ADV:ADLT" as the first eight characters.

    4. An employer who is the registered owner of more than one e-mail address may notify the person conducting business in this State e-mailing or causing to be e-mailed unsolicited e-mail documents of the desire to cease e-mailing on behalf or all employer-controlled e-mail addresses.

    5. This act shall apply when the unsolicited e-mail documents are delivered to a New Jersey resident via an electronic mail service provider's service or equipment located in this State.

    6. A person who violates the provisions of this act shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than $500 for a first violation and not more than $1,000 for each subsequent violation. The penalty shall be collected and enforced in a summary proceeding pursuant to "the penalty enforcement law" (N.J.S.2A:58-1 et seq.). Any action to collect or enforce any such penalty shall be brought in the Superior Court or municipal court by the Attorney General, a municipal or county prosecutor, or the injured party.

    7. This act, or any part of this act, shall become inoperative on and after the date that federal law is enacted that prohibits or otherwise regulates the transmission of unsolicited advertising by electronic mail.

    8. This act shall take effect on the first day of the third month following enactment.

STATEMENT

    This bill would prohibit a person conducting business in the State from electronically mailing (e-mailing) unsolicited advertising materials unless certain conditions are satisfied. The bill is modeled after California law concerning the e-mailing of unsolicited adverting materials. E-mailing unsolicited advertising materials usually shifts all or a part of the cost of that advertisement to the recipient. The provisions of the bill would allow a person to discern when an e-mail contains unsolicited advertising materials. The provisions of the bill also provide a mechanism by which a person may notify the sender of e-mailed unsolicited advertising materials that they do not wish to receive further e-mailed materials.

    The bill requires a person conducting business in the State and e-mailing unsolicited e-mail documents to establish a toll-free telephone number or valid sender operated return e-mail address so that a recipient of unsolicited e-mail documents may notify the sender not to e-mail any further unsolicited e-mail documents. The bill provides that upon receiving a request that no further unsolicited e-mail documents be sent, a person conducting business in this State shall not e-mail or cause to be e-mailed any further unsolicited e-mail documents to that recipient.

    The bill defines an unsolicited e-mail document as any electronically mailed (e-mailed) document consisting of advertising material for the lease, sale, rental, gift offer, or other disposition of any realty, goods, services, or extension of credit that meet both of the following requirements: (1) the document is addressed to a recipient with whom the initiator does not have an existing business relationship; and (2) the document is not sent at the request of, or with the express consent of, the recipient.

    The bill requires that all unsolicited e-mail documents include a statement informing the recipient of the toll-free telephone that the recipient may call, or a valid return address to which the recipient may write or e-mail, to notify the sender not to e-mail any further unsolicited e-mail documents to the e-mail address or addresses specified by the recipient. The bill requires that this statement be the first text in the body of the message and shall be of the same size as the majority of the text of the message.

    The bill further requires that in the case of e-mail which consists of unsolicited advertising material for the lease, sale, rental, gift offer or other disposition of any realty, goods, services or extensions of credit, the subject line of each and every message shall include "ADV:" as the first four characters. If the messages contain information that consists of unsolicited advertising material for the lease, sale, rental, gift offer or other disposition of any realty, goods, services or extensions of credit, that may only be viewed, purchased, rented, leased or held in possession of any individual 18 years of age and older, the subject line of each and every message shall include "ADV:ADLT" as the first eight characters.

    The act would apply when the unsolicited e-mail documents are delivered to a New Jersey resident via an electronic mail service provider's service or equipment located in this State.

    The bill provides that a persons who violates the provisions of the act would be subject to a civil penalty of not more than $500 for the first violation and not more than $1,000 for each subsequent violation.     The bill further provides that the act would become inoperative on and after the date that federal law is enacted that prohibits or otherwise regulates the transmission of unsolicited advertising by electronic mail.