Government plans to introduce a consumer direct mail opt-out into the electoral roll are likely to be delayed for another year, because the Home Office does not have enough time to devote to the issue.
A series of draft regulations, which will be introduced as part of the Representation of the People Act, will offer the DM industry access to consumer data for list-cleaning purposes. The government will allow access to the roll providing that the industry can develop a secure system for managing it.
The proposals to give consumers the choice to stop their details being made available to DM firms will prevent the entire roll being used as a mailing list. But these are now unlikely to be implemented until about this time next year.
The Direct Marketing Association recently submitted to Home Office officials a proposal on how to explain the opt-out to consumers. But DMA director of legal and legislative affairs Jo Whyte said: 'We have been informed that the Home Office is unlikely to make any headway in the immediate future.'
_1.jpg)
.jpg)
