:: Consumer protection

We believe that having a robust and expanding e-commerce market in South Africa is to the benefit of all and that effective consumer protection has an important role to play in fostering online buying and selling.

There are a number of articles on our site dealing with the rights and protections given to South African (and other) consumers purchasing online from South African web sites. If you have any queries or feel aggrieved by any experience you have had buying on the Internet (no matter where) please tell us about it by e-mailing consumers@elc.co.za.

Spam [ Unsolicted Commercial Email ]

We also offer advice on unsolicited commercial e-mail or SPAM, both from the perspective of those wishing not to receive it and those wishing to use e-mail as a genuine marketing tool within the bounds of the law.

If you are an organisation using e-mail as a marketing tool you need to be aware that failure to comply with the provisions of section 45 of the ECT Act (see below) can lead to a criminal prosecution being brought against you.

45.

  1. Any person who sends unsolicited commercial communications to consumers, must provide the consumer-
  2. a. with the option to cancel his or her subscription to the mailing list of that person; and
    b. with the identifying particulars of the source from which that person obtained the consumer's personal information, on request of the consumer.
  3. No agreement is concluded where a consumer has failed to respond to an unsolicited communication.
  4. Any person who fails to comply with or contravenes subsection (1) is guilty of an offence and liable, on conviction, to the penalties prescribed in section 89(1).
  5. Any person who sends unsolicited commercial communications to a person who has advised the sender that such communications are unwelcome, is guilty of an offence and liable, on conviction, to the penalties prescribed in section 89(1)

If you have received unsolicited commercial e-mail from a South African source and believe that it does not comply with section 45 please let us know by e-mailing all the details, including a copy of the mail, to spammed@elc.co.za.

You can also check out our simple technical solution to having your e-mail address harvested from your web site by clicking here.