EU decision on email spam imminent

Graeme Wearden ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 11 Jul 2001 12:43 BST

A European committee will recommend later on Wednesday whether computer users should only be sent unsolicited email if they volunteer to receive it.

According to sources within the European Parliament, a decision has already been made and will be announced this afternoon.

The Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs committee will decide whether or not the European Parliament advocate an "opt-in" approach to unsolicited email -- commonly known as "spam" -- across the European Community.

Each country currently adopts its own policy. Today, email users in Germany, Austria, Italy, Finland and Denmark should only receive spam if they've signed up for it. These countries are pushing for this policy to be adopted across the EU. The other member states don't agree, and told the committee that email users should have to opt-out of receiving spam.

More to follow.