HC Deb 12 December 2001 vol 376 cc862-3W
Mr. Allan

To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what research she has undertaken into systems that allow people to opt out from receiving unsolicited commercial e-mail; and what evaluation she has made of their effectiveness. [20831]

Mr. Alexander

In response to proposed or adopted European legislation, my Department has consulted publicly on the effective regulation of unsolicited commercial e-mail on a number of occasions over the last few years. This consultation has covered existing and potential self-regulatory, co-regulatory and statutory approaches towards schemes for both opting in and opting out, but has not produced a consistent consensus in favour of one solution over another.