1.1    Context:  Parliamentary

2.1    Royal Mail

2.2    Opting Out

2.3    Local firms operating outside the Direct Mail Association’s control

3.1    The Environmental Impact

4.1   Parliamentary Question

4.2   Supplementary

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Context: Parliamentary

There is a phenomenal amount of recent Parliamentary information on the rise of junk E-mail (Spam) but relatively little on postal mail.

The Postal Services Act (2000) prevents any harmful material being sent through the post and gives the postal services the power to remove such material and hand it to HM customs.  Nothing is mentioned about the other unharmful, but still undesirable mail.

There are no Governmental plans to regulate unsolicited mail, however, the draft Code of Practice launched by the Direct Marketing Association in May 2003 requires members to have in place a structure to enable every effort to be made to respect a householder's wish not to receive unaddressed items.  This does not affect none DMA members.

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2.1  Royal Mail

Royal Mail is obliged to deliver all mail to the address given. Direct advertising mail generates both extra revenue and traffic volumes for Royal Mail, creating economies of scale that result in letter postage rates being lower than they would otherwise be. Although this type of mail is unwelcome to some customers who regard it as a nuisance, unsolicited mailing can perform a valuable service in advertising goods and services, which people might find useful and would be otherwise unaware of.  Royal Mail also run a scheme whereby consumers can register to opt out of receiving unsolicited and undressed letters and leaflets delivered by them.

In addition, the Direct Marketing Association runs the Mailing Preference Service, an industry-led scheme which covers around 90% of mailing lists.  Member organisations undertake to remove from their mailing lists the addresses of people who indicate that they want this done.  It should be noted that once a person has registered it will, naturally, take a few months to have an effect.

2.2   Opting Out

There are a number of Preference Services in operation within the communication sectors which enable consumers to withdraw their names and addresses form marketing circulation lists – some of these are voluntary and some operate on a statutory basis so failure to respect registration will be against the law.  However, consumers should note that sources of “scam mailings” tend to trade names and addresses with other scam promoters and those mailing lists may never be updated.

Addressed Direct Marketing Mail

Mailing Preference Service
Freepost 22
London, W1E 7EZ

Tel:0207 291 3300 (press 1 to register)
To register on line: www.mpsonline.org.uk
DMA Website: www.dma.org.uk

It should be noted that this opt-out facility can only help with DMA companies; individual companies/organisations are free to post (by hand) at their leisure.

There is a DTI fact sheet available on the issue of opting out of receiving such mail.

Relevant Link: http://www.dti.gov.uk/ccp/topics1/facts/unsolicited.htm

2.3  Local firms operating outside the DMA’s control

There are currently no plans for the Government to intervene with the sending of unsolicited mail, whether it be delivered through Royal Mail or in person from the company/organisation.

These companies, often local businesses such as take-aways, do not operate from a database, instead they simply hand deliver their adverts through every door they see, Without DMA/Royal Mail control, regulation will be extremely difficult. _____________________________________________________________________

3.1   The Environmental Impact

In a response to a recent parliamentary question, Defra Minister for the Environment Elliot Morley announced that between 500,000 and 600,000 tonnes of paper was sent out as junk mail in 2002, only around 13% of that was recycled.  The Government has asked the Direct Marketing Association to increase this to 30% by the end of 2005.  Future standards of improvement have also been set out.

There has also been a significant reduction in packaging and excessive paper within the mail as a result of a packaging waste directive issued by DTI and Defra.

4.1   Parliamentary Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what rights consumers have to opt out of hand-delivered unsolicited mail.

Barry Gardiner (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry) Hansard source

By registering with the mailing preference service (MPS) individuals who object to receiving unsolicited mail can have their details removed from mailing lists to reduce the amount of addressed advertising literature they receive. The MPS is not designed to stop unaddressed items of mail, direct mail delivered to the door or the delivery of free newspapers. Mail addressed to 'occupant', 'resident' or 'homeowner' is also not covered under the MPS.

Those who wish to stop mailings from organisations that are not part of the MPS or with whom they already have a relationship, such as a bank or building society, must contact respective organisations direct.