Key compliance for ACMA in FY25 – what you need to know

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is Australia’s regulator for telecommunications, broadcasting, radiocommunications, unsolicited communications and certain online content. The ACMA’s purpose is to maximise the economic and social benefits of communications infrastructure, services and content for all Australia. Each year the ACMA selects key areas for improved industry compliance and has recently announced its FY24-25 compliance priorities. This year, these include a strong focus on consumer protections in the telco sector. 

One focus area of particular importance for the marketing industry is the ACMA’s focus on targeting misleading marketing and spam messages. This will involve continued enforcement of the Spam Act, in order to stop commercial messages masquerading as service or non-commercial messages. Given the increasing number of consumer scams as well as the imminent privacy reforms, this emphasis should come as no surprise. In fact, businesses have paid more than $15 million in penalties relating to spam and telemarketing infringements in the past 18 months. 

Recently in announcing the outcome of an investigation where a major brand was found to have breached the SPAM Act, ACMA Authority member Samantha Yorke said these significant failures caused frustration for people.

"The public expects more from businesses who are using their data. They have a right not to be sent marketing messages if they haven’t consented or have chosen to unsubscribe. The spam rules have been in place for over 20 years and there is simply no excuse for failing to uphold the rights of consumers”. Ms Yorke said

To provide guidance and steps to businesses that undertake email, SMS, and telephone marketing, ACMA also recently shared their Statement of Expectations. The Statement sets out to provide guidance to a business to help ensure they follow the processes that help obtain consumer consent before conducting telemarketing and e-marketing – noting there is no exemption here and these consent requirements apply to any sized business with any level of turnover. 

In addition the ACMA also has a dedicated page on its website that provides easy accessible links around common mistakes and issues seen in their complaint handling and investigations. This information was previously available only in the Authority’s quarterly ‘Action on scams, spam and telemarketing reports’.

"ADMA welcomes all guidance in this space to help marketers stay on the right side of compliance and encourages all marketers to bookmark and keep these useful resources from the ACMA as a reference guide that they can go to regularly for clarity where they may need it “ – Sarla Fernando, ADMA Director of Regulatory and Advocacy Advisory.

At ADMA, we continuously aim to support our members, and the broader marketing industry to improve their responsible marketing practices and to apply best practice in navigating legislation like the Spam Act and Privacy Act. ADMA encourages marketers to strive for best practice not just compliance in the regulatory space. Best practice will always be most aligned with consumers expectations and is core to creating and maintaining consumer trust in a brand’s digital marketing practices. That’s why we offer our full support to ACMA’s priorities. 

“Guidance from bodies and regulators like ACMA is an essential part of compliance. At ADMA we strongly endorse the provision of guidance and congratulate ACMA for providing it.”  - Rob Nicholls, ADMA Senior Regulatory and Policy Manager.

With privacy reform swiftly approaching and focus areas like consent and targeting coming to the forefront, it’s imperative that marketers keep their finger on the pulse. The requirements around SPAM and telemarketing are a good indicator of the standards expected as definitions of direct marketing and targeting (to a certain extent) are introduced into the Privacy Act.  As Australian regulators continue to clamp down and hold businesses accountable for any breach that may occur around their data-driven marketing activities, we can expect brands to be party to more investigations. Training in these important areas is no longer optional, in fact with the extent of the fines being issued for breaches in this area, a brand cannot afford NOT to ensure their whole teams are upskilled as to their responsibilities. A weak link in your marketing team can lead to a lot of pain (and cost) to a business. It’s better to be proactive than reactive in getting things right.

“Here at ADMA, we strive to educate and evolve marketers in all areas, from specific marketing skills to understanding and applying the relevant governing legislations to their operations. ACMA’s focus and dedication to educating businesses on fundamental areas like Spam rules is an admirable education initiative that ADMA fully supports.” – Andrea Martens, ADMA Chief Executive Officer.

ADMA also supports businesses and marketers to prepare for responsible marketing practices with Member toolkits and resources available throughout the year. In addition, ADMA also offers opportunities to upskill with education from our extensive course program with ADMA IQ.