Introduced By: Representatives Kennedy, Garvey, Naughton, Henseler and Lima
Date Introduced : February 2, 1999
Referred To: Committee on Corporations
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
SECTION 1. Title 5 of the General Laws entitled "Businesses and Professions" is hereby amended by adding thereto the following chapter:
{ADD 5-74-1. Advertising by fax or electronic mail. -- ADD} {ADD (a) No person or entity conducting business in this state shall facsimile (fax) or cause to be faxed, or electronically mail (e-mail) or cause to be e-mailed, documents consisting of unsolicited advertising material for the lease, sale, rental, gift offer, or other disposition of any realty, goods, services, or extension of credit unless: ADD}
{ADD (1) In the case of a fax, that person or entity must establish a toll-free telephone number that a recipient of the unsolicited faxed documents may call to notify the sender not to fax the recipient any further unsolicited documents. ADD}
{ADD (2) In the case of e-mail, that person or entity must establish a toll-free telephone number or valid sender operated return e-mail address that the recipient of the unsolicited documents may call or e-mail to notify the sender not to e-mail any further unsolicited documents ADD}
{ADD (b) All unsolicited faxed or e-mailed documents subject to this section shall include a statement informing the recipient of the toll-free telephone number that the recipient may call, or a valid return address to which the recipient may write or e-mail, as the case may be, notifying the sender not to fax or e-mail the recipient any further unsolicited documents to the fax number, or numbers, or e-mail address, or addresses, specified by the recipient. ADD}
{ADD In the case of faxed material, the statement shall be in at least nine-point type. In the case of e-mail, the statement shall be the first text in the body of the message and shall be of the same size as the majority of the text of the message. ADD}
{ADD (c) Upon notification by a recipient of his or her request not to receive any further unsolicited faxed or e-mailed documents, no person or entity conducting business in this state shall fax or cause to be faxed or e-mail or cause to be e-mailed any unsolicited documents to that recipient. ADD}
{ADD (d) As used in this chapter, "unsolicited e-mailed documents" means any e-mailed document or documents consisting of advertising material for the lease, sale, rental, gift offer, or other disposition of any realty, goods, services, or extension of credit that meet both of the following requirements: ADD}
{ADD (1) The documents are addressed to a recipient with whom the initiator does not have an existing business or personal relationship. ADD}
{ADD (2) The documents are not sent at the request of, or with the express consent of, the recipient. ADD}
{ADD (e) As used in this chapter, "fax or "caused to be faxed or "e-mail" or "caused to be e-mailed" does not include or refer to the transmission of any documents by a telecommunications utility or Internet service provider to the extent that the telecommunications utility or Internet service provider merely carries that transmission over its network. ADD}
{ADD (f) In the case of e-mail that consists of unsolicited advertising material for the lease, sale, rental, gift offer, or other disposition of any realty, goods, services, or extension of credit, the subject line of each and every message shall include "ADV:" as the first four (4) characters. If these messages contain information that consists of unsolicited advertising material for the lease, sale, rental, gift offer, or other disposition of any realty, goods, services, or extension of credit, that may only be viewed, purchased, rented, leased, or held in possession by an individual eighteen (18) years of age or older, the subject line of each and every message shall include "ADV:ADLT" as the first eight (8) characters. ADD}
{ADD (g) An employer who is the registered owner of more than one (1) e-mail address may notify the person or entity conducting business in this state e-mailing or causing to be e-mailed, documents consisting of unsolicited advertising material for the lease, sale, rental, gift offer, or other disposition of any realty, goods, services, or extension of credit of the desire to cease e-mailing on behalf of all of the employees who may use employer provided and employer controlled e-mail addresses. ADD}
{ADD (h) This chapter, or any part of this chapter, shall become inoperative on or after the date that federal law is enacted that prohibits or otherwise regulates the transmission of unsolicited advertising by electronic mail (e-mail). ADD}
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.
This act regulates advertising by fax or e-mail.
This act would take effect upon passage.
