Are you sending email marketing campaigns to Michigan and Utah? If so you may need to scrub your mailing lists. Before I explain, first a little compliance review:

Many countries around the world have enacted some form of legal regulations for marketers who are utilizing the online channel to communicate with their clients and prospects. Some laws are specific to email, and some incorporate email as a component of the overall compliance obligation.

In the United States, CAN-SPAM regulates commercial email for legitimate email marketers, and when it was enacted in 2004 it became the benchmark for the email marketing industry to adopt.

Upon enactment of CAN-SPAM many of the individual state laws that were in place were superseded by the federal bill, but not all laws - specifically those state laws that did not deal with fraudulent activities.

So under today’s legal climate you can be prosecuted under CAN-SPAM as well as specific state laws that are still on the books.

For information on CAN-SPAM click here:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/business/ecommerce/bus61.shtm

For a complete listing of state spam laws click here:
http://www.spamlaws.com/state/index.shtml

Michigan and Utah Do-Not-Contact Registries

Michigan and Utah are the only two states (today) in the USA that have enacted a state registry data base that email marketers must comply with. Several other states have or are considering similar registries as well.

These registries allow individuals and schools to list email addresses, mobile telephone numbers (SMS), fax numbers, and instant messenger ID’s of children who are under the age of 18.

The reasoning behind this is based on the assumption that it’s illegal for children under 18 to purchase items that would only be available to adults.

So if you are sending an email marketing campaign that markets products in the following categories - alcohol, tobacco, pornography, obscene material, gambling, illegal drugs or firearms - to Utah or Michigan residents, then you are required by law to "scrub" your mailing lists according to the appropriate state register to be in compliance with the legislation of these states.

Both states have Web sites that provide complete information for senders that explain the components of compliance, the necessary steps to take, and the associated costs for compliance.

Complete information for Michigan can be found here:
https://www.protectmichild.com/

Complete information for Utah can be found here:
https://donotcontact.utah.gov/

Now for full disclosure I am not an attorney, nor have I played one on T.V., and we are not in the business to provide legal advice or guidance. Therefore, I strongly encourage you to request the opinion or guidance from your respective legal teams pertaining to this or any other legal requirement or obligation that you may have both domestically and internationally.

Until next time…Cheers.

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About the Author

David Fowler is the director of email strategy, deliverability and privacy compliance for Lyris. He consults with email marketers to help them get better results from their email programs.

Related Resources:

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• Download free online-marketing guides, tools and webinars in the Lyris Online-Marketing Resource Center.

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