-3

The CAN-SPAM Act applies only to "commercial electronic email messages", which it defines in §7702.2 as (emphasis mine):

The term ‘‘commercial electronic mail message’’ means any electronic mail message the primary purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service

My question is, are there any similar laws that apply to email messages that do not fall under this definition?

For example, email messages intended to deliver status updates or error messages regarding a product / service, that are not intended to promote any specific product or service. Do messages like this have any special rules covering them, similar to the CAN-SPAM Act/Rule?

The context here is that I am the service provider and I'm researching to see if there's any systems I need to put in place to cover my company legally, as I'm thinking of implementing email-based status notifications regarding my products, which the customers own.

Jason C
  • 262
  • 2
  • 10

1 Answers1

1

For example, email messages intended to deliver status updates or error messages regarding a product / service, that are not intended to promote any specific product or service. Do messages like this have any special rules covering them, similar to the CAN-SPAM Act/Rule?

No.

There are some regulations of robocalls and robotexts that have a broader scope than CAN-SPAM, but emails aren't further regulated.

This said, depending on the nature of the email, privacy law considerations could apply to the content of the email.

Nationally, there are laws regarding sharing confidential medical information (HIPPA), banking, national defense information, and educational information. Every state regulates attorney-client confidentiality and certain other duties of confidentiality related to particular professions.

California, and perhaps some other states, have more general privacy regulations that are much more stringent than the very lax requirement of a privacy policy and privacy breach notices that exists at the federal level.

ohwilleke
  • 257,510
  • 16
  • 506
  • 896