The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) gave Select Print Solutions, based in the suburb of Kogarah, a formal warning – the softest possible response – in January for violating the Spam Act four times.
ACMA anti-spam team manager Julia Cornwell McKean told ProPrint the warning imposed no obligations on Select Print, "but it would be a very good idea" if the company fixed the problem.
She said that if the 15-staff printer continued spamming, it would risk harsher consequences including Federal Court action and infringement notices of up to $110,000 per day.
The Spam Act forbids the sending of unsolicited electronic marketing messages with Australian links.
Select Print first came to ACMA's attention in 2010, said McKean. ACMA contacted Select Print nine times before launching a formal investigation in October 2011, she added.
Select Print director Lee-Ann Elias said the company was working hard to fix the problem.
She said her "good Australian small business" was a supporter of the Spam Act, but had unknowingly violated it.
"I apologise to the people who have been spammed by us," she said.
"Anybody that wants to be off our mailing list we take off. We're not intending to send emails out to people who don't want to be on there. That would be stupid.
"Why am I going to spam someone and turn them off coming to a printing company like us and get a fine of $110,000?"
Elias told ProPrint that Select Print had its first spamming issue in 2010 after changing its direct mailing partner. That was fixed, she said, but the problem re-emerged after a system upgrade in May 2011 that caused emails to be accidentally sent to people who had asked to be removed. Select Print had known nothing about it until ACMA, responding to complaints, made contact, she added.
Elias said Select Print had acted immediately after receiving its formal warning and had spent a lot of money employing telemarketers to phone people to make sure they wanted to be on its mailing list.
ACMA said it had been forced to issue Select Print with a formal warning because it had failed to heed informal warnings.
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