Singapore Spam Control Act 2007 passed into Law

The Spam Control Act 2007, passed in Parliament on 12 April 2007, will provide the means to address the still-growing and global phenomenon. The law was developed by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) and the Attorney-General’s Chambers of Singapore (AGC), with inputs from the public, people and private sectors, over the last three years.

The press report from the IDA is viewable here. The SPAM Bill itself can be downloaded here.

This piece of legislation is not without controversy and detractors. The effort to prevent or control spam has often been described as a lost cause. Its been recorded that in Singapore more than 80% of the spam received here are from overseas and as such the local legitimate businesses has registered their views that they are being targetted while the real abusers are out of reach of the new law. While there is some degree of truth in that issue, this new law has some value for the creation of a trusted infrastructure. The provisions of how acceptable commercial information emails can be sent is critical to Singapore becoming a recognised place where business communication are regulated.