--- title: "What is the Spam Act?" description: "A plain answer to what is Spam Act: Australia's rules for commercial email and SMS, covering consent, sender details and opt-out. See an example." url: https://assistbpo.com/glossary/spam-act/ updated: 2026-09-20 publisher: AssistBPO (SS Support Network LLC) language: en-US --- # What is the Spam Act? Glossary What is the Spam Act? The Spam Act 2003 is the Australian law that regulates commercial electronic messages, such as marketing emails and texts, sent to or from Australia. A message may only be sent with the recipient's consent, must identify the sender with contact details, and must contain a functional unsubscribe honored within five business days. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) enforces it. Updated September 2026 · Reviewed by [Nimra Khalid](https://assistbpo.com/team/nimra-khalid/) ## How does the Spam Act work? 1. Consent is express (a tick box, a form, a recorded verbal yes) or inferred from an existing business relationship or a published business address. 2. Every message names the business, includes a way to contact it, and carries an unsubscribe that works for at least 30 days after sending. 3. Unsubscribe requests must be actioned within five business days, and the sender cannot charge for opting out. 4. Address-harvesting software and harvested lists are banned outright, whatever consent language is attached later. 5. ACMA can issue formal warnings, infringement notices and court-ordered penalties, and it publishes the outcomes. ## A worked example A Melbourne physiotherapy clinic with three practitioners asks a remote assistant to run monthly SMS reminders and a quarterly newsletter. The assistant separates transactional texts (appointment reminders, which are not commercial) from promotional ones (a discounted massage package), and only the promotional messages go to patients who ticked yes to offers on the intake form. Each promotional SMS ends with the clinic name and a reply-STOP instruction, and stops are actioned the same day in the practice software before the next send. ## Where does the Spam Act show up in your tools? Spam Act controls appear as opt-in fields and STOP keyword automations in Klaviyo, Mailchimp and Twilio, as a marketing-consent property in HubSpot, and as the unsubscribe footer block every template carries. ## Common mistakes - Treating a business card collected at an event as express consent for an ongoing newsletter; it may support inferred consent, and only for related messages. - Sending from a no-reply address with no physical contact details, which fails the identification requirement. - Bundling promotional copy into a reminder text, which turns a transactional message into a commercial one. ## Why does the Spam Act matter? ACMA actively pursues SMS and email breaches, including at well-known Australian brands, and the penalties scale with volume. Clean consent and a working unsubscribe keep messaging useful rather than costly. This is a plain-language summary, not legal advice. ## How does AssistBPO handle the Spam Act? AssistBPO marketing assistants working for Australian clients keep transactional and promotional sends in separate lists, send promotions only to contacts with recorded consent, and action unsubscribes well inside the five-day window. Any calling that accompanies a campaign runs with lawful consent and do-not-call scrubbing. [Campaigns and flows that go out on time](https://assistbpo.com/services/email-marketing/)[Get a staffing plan](https://assistbpo.com/get-a-staffing-plan/) ## Related terms - [DNCR](https://assistbpo.com/glossary/dncr/) - [CASL](https://assistbpo.com/glossary/casl/) - [CAN-SPAM](https://assistbpo.com/glossary/can-spam/) - [Privacy Act (Australia)](https://assistbpo.com/glossary/privacy-act-australia/) - [Intake form](https://assistbpo.com/glossary/intake-form/) ## Where it is used - [Campaigns and flows that go out on time](https://assistbpo.com/services/email-marketing/) ## Next in the A to Z - [Speed to lead](https://assistbpo.com/glossary/speed-to-lead/) - [Standard operating procedure](https://assistbpo.com/glossary/standard-operating-procedure/) - [Style guide](https://assistbpo.com/glossary/style-guide/) - [Task batching](https://assistbpo.com/glossary/task-batching/) [All 148 terms, A to Z](https://assistbpo.com/glossary/) Next step ## Your desk, staffed. Wherever you are. Tell us what is overloaded. A named person replies within 1 business day with a staffing plan, and we propose your assistant within 72 hours. [Get a staffing plan](https://assistbpo.com/get-a-staffing-plan/) [Book a 20-minute call](https://assistbpo.com/book-a-call/) Or call [+1-657-777-0006](tel:+16577770006) during US, UK or Australian business hours, or [hear our demo receptionist](https://assistbpo.com/demo-line/). - A named assistant proposed within 72 hours - Employed, screened and managed staff, never freelancers - Your hours, your tools, your data --- Source: https://assistbpo.com/glossary/spam-act/ · Contact: https://assistbpo.com/contact/ · Full site map for agents: https://assistbpo.com/llms.txt