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By Joey Gardiner, 11 July 2001 17:30

NEWS The EC has admitted it is trying to force the rest of the world to abide by controversial new legislation on spam, set to be in place by the end of the year. However, industry figures have branded the legislation misguided, and the attempts to enforce it outside the EU as unworkable and counter-productive. According to a leaked internal document which silicon.com has obtained, the European Commission (EC) believes it has the right to prosecute firms from outside the EU which break the rules. The document says the threat of legal censure will be enough to ensure reputable companies outside the EU don't infringe the new legislation. The four-page document, on EC-headed paper, includes a section outlining justifications for a common European policy on spam. It says: "The EU and its member states can take legal measures against unsolicited email messages from outside EU territory which do not respect opt-in legislation. Any reputable countries outside the EU are therefore likely to abide by our rules." It believes it has the right to enforce this under World Trade Organisation rules. Per Haugaard, an EC spokesman, confirmed the contents of the leaked memo. "In theory email from outside the US which a European user hadn't opted to receive would breach the law. This would be enforced in the same way as EU law in any other field," he said. Lawyers said these ambitions were unworkable and unrealistic. Mike Pullen, partner at Euro law firm DLA said: "To enforce this you would have to ask the international courts to enforce it under international law, but it's so different from their laws it's not likely. If the US told us we weren't allowed to send email to them there'd be uproar - this is just the same." Industry has also declared its opposition. Clare Gilbert, general counsel at AOL UK, said: "To me this is not the answer. We need to talk to foreign governments and work to deal with problems as they arise." What's more, many dot-coms - as well as the UK government - are against the legislation, which will mean ecommerce operators are only allowed to send email with the active consent - the so-called 'opt-in' - of the participant. Currently surfers can get on spam lists just by neglecting to tick a box to 'opt out'. AOL's Gilbert said the status quo should be allowed to continue, particularly since the 'opt-in' proposal would not deal with the bulk of spam, which comes from companies operating outside of the law. The EC defended the policy saying it was a big privacy issue and a serious expense to European business. The EC's Haugaard said the directive should be in force by the end of the year.