ONS, Chapters, and CAN-SPAM Act

ONS, Chapters, and CAN-SPAM Act

ONS, like all organizations, must adhere to the federal government’s CAN-SPAM Act. This law sets rules for commercial email, including giving recipients the right to opt out of any emails. Even though members have actively joined ONS and conducted business with us, we must still provide them with the ability to opt out of any and all email communications. Thus, it is imperative that chapter emails be sent through a system that ties in to the ONS database so that we can keep accurate records of those who have opted out and ensure that they no longer receive emails from us. It is important to note that this is not an ONS policy or practice but rather a governmental one. ONS is committed to adhering to this legislation out of respect for its members’ privacy and because failure to do so can result in significant penalties.

Here are some of the rules outlined in CAN-SPAM that help to demonstrate why ONS must be able to manage email addresses in its database:

Your message must include a clear and conspicuous explanation of how the recipient can opt out of getting email from you in the future.
Give a return email address or another easy Internet-based way to allow people to communicate their choice to you. You may create a menu to allow a recipient to opt out of certain types of messages, but you must include the option to stop all commercial messages from you.
Any opt-out mechanism you offer must be able to process opt-out requests for at least 30 days after you send your message.
You must honor a recipient’s opt-out request within 10 business days.
You can’t charge a fee, require the recipient to give you any personally identifying information beyond an email address, or make the recipient take any step other than sending a reply email or visiting a single page on an Internet website as a condition for honoring an opt-out request.
Once people have told you they don’t want to receive more messages from you, you can’t sell or transfer their email addresses, even in the form of a mailing list.

If you need additional information regarding the CAN-SPAM Act please contact .