A war of words has broken out between direct mail firms, their trade association and internet service providers (ISPs) over EU rules on commercial email.

The European Commission is mulling changes to data protection laws requiring that consumers 'opt-in' to receive commercial messages rather than the current 'opt-out' system, which the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) wants to maintain.

The DMA, whose position has been condemned by a section of its own members, said it is concerned that the proposed new rules would penalise smaller businesses. It also said fears that out-out systems will result in high levels of spam are "unfounded".

Jo Whyte, DMA Director of Legal and Public Affairs, commented: "Consumers already have considerable control over how their personal data is collected and used in the UK, and unlike in the USA are well protected under the Data Protection Act."

"An individual always has the option of opting-out of receiving any direct marketing messages should they choose to, and data cannot be collected without the individual knowing who is collecting it and what they intend to do with it."

However, a section of its membership has attacked the DMA over its stance.

Guy Marson, chief executive officer of Mailtrack, which favours opt-in, commented: "The DMA is doing its own members a massive disservice." If it favoured a responsible policy rather than taking its current broad brush position, it would be representing the best interests of its members who would achieve excellent response rates and therefore be able to charge a premium."

Mailtrack also quotes a NOP survey revealing that 87 per cent of the public find spam unacceptable, but 64 per cent would consider opting-in to receive marketing information in areas interesting to them.

Internet service providers, which have had email servers crippled for days in the past by bulk spam, are firmly opposed to opt-out and called the DMA's position "highly irresponsible".

Richard Clayton, a committee member of the London Internet Exchange (LINX), commented: "Both the consumer and the internet industry bear the cost burden of 'spam', and ISPs regularly invoke their Acceptable Usage Policies to disconnect the senders of bulk unsolicited email from the internet.

"It seems highly irresponsible of the DMA to encourage their members into believing that sending unsolicited email is acceptable behaviour."