Australian spam rules are clear, according to authority member Samantha Yorke – if any electronic communication contains sales or promotional content, it is considered to be a commercial message, regardless of any other purpose.

“In this case, Lululemon sent service emails such as shipping updates that also contained sales material and direct links to promotions,” Yorke said.

“This was an easily avoidable error that has led to hundreds of thousands of marketing emails being sent without a way for people to opt out.

“Businesses need to understand that marketing messages must have an unsubscribe option, and the simplest way to comply is to keep transactional or service messages separate from sales content and links.

“This is the fifth enforcement action the ACMA has undertaken in the last 18 months against businesses that have incorrectly treated messages as non-commercial even though they contained or had links to clearly commercial material.

“The law is clear – providing the ability to opt-out is mandatory for marketing messages.”

Lululemon Athletica Australia has also entered into a court-enforceable undertaking that commits it to an independent review of its spam compliance, alongside making regular reports to the ACMA regarding improvements to the company’s procedures.

Australian businesses have paid a total of $6.7 million in spam penalties over the last 18 months.