Romania has no specific anti-spam statute; however, it included provisions against the distribution of spam in its e-commerce legislation, Law No. 365/2002 and 506/2004 (the “e-commerce law”). The Law was published in the Official Journal of Romania, Part 1, No. 483 on July 5, 2002, and came into effect 3 months from its publication date. The Ministry for Communications and Information Technology of Romania has the authority to promote and enforce legislation prohibiting spam.
Spam is not explicitly defined by Romanian law but the e-commerce law states that the distribution of “unsolicited commercial communication sent via e-mail” is strictly forbidden. Commercial communications via e-mail are permissible when the recipient agreed to the receipt thereof. E-mail sent as part of the service of an information society is permissible, conditional upon disclosure of certain information. A subscriber who had previously given his/her express consent to receive such communications may receive commercial communications without penalty to the sender. E-mail communications that are not commercial in nature are not regulated by the e-commerce law.
What exactly is “Commercial Communication”?
“Commercial communication” is defined as any form of communication intended to promote, whether directly or indirectly, goods, services, image name, or logo of a person pursuing commercial activity or engaging in a profession-related activity. What are the disclosure requirements when sending email from an information society service? A sender of unsolicited e-mail is required to disclose, within the same e-mail, certain information regarding the organization on whose behalf the e-mail was sent. In addition, the e-mail must include the full name of the advertiser, the domicile or address of the sending organization, the organization’s phone and facsimile numbers and its e-mail address.
Can a subscriber receive spam that is not directly related to the product or service that he agreed to receive?
When an advertiser directly obtains from a customer his e-mail address in the context of the sale of a product or a service to that customer, the advertiser may use that e-mail address for commercial communications with respect to similar products or services marketed by the same company, organization or service, provided that the customer is given a clear and distinct possibility to object to the receipt of such communications, free of charge, and in an easy manner.
