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The DMA has vowed to pursue all borough councils that send out electoral registration forms where the option not to appear on the edited roll available to marketers is pre-ticked.

The tougher stance follows complaints it raised last year and is also in response to rules laid down in July by Parliament which expressly bans councils from pre-ticking forms.

Pre-ticked forms are being sent to households that opted-out last time round, a move that DMA head of legal affairs Caroline Roberts says incorrectly assumes people want to opt-out again this year.

"It's clear that a fresh opt-out opportunity must appear," she said.

"There's no room for misunderstanding this. Pre-ticking is legally unsafe."

Electoral Commission guidelines (2004) say: "It remains the view that pre-ticked forms would be a significant departure from the accepted rule. A fresh choice should be presented every year, meaning the box remains blank."

The DMA sent communications to all councils reminding them of this before this year's forms were printed, as well as informing the Association of Electoral Administrators.

Presently, many councils appear confused about the impact pre-ticking has, and simply print the tick because residents opted out last time.

This was certainly what one council, Lambeth, admitted to Marketing Direct when quizzed about its forms.

Merton Council is another that pre-ticked its forms. Marketing Direct tested how it would react to a household objecting to pre-ticking by returning the form with a note saying it wanted to appear on the edited register after all. Its response from the Electoral Services Office was swift: "The tick indicates this was previously requested by you. As this tick has been crossed out, your name will appear on the edited register."

In a follow-up call, a spokesman said: "If you ticked last year, it's pre-printed with a tick this year and people have an option to cross it out."

However, Roberts argues that people will not think to do this.

The DMA is urging members to send their forms to it so it can build up a bigger picture of the state of pre-ticking. Some doubt whether those opting out last time would change their mind this year, although Roberts says she is defending the principle of choice.

John Gray, operations director, Equifax, which is also lobbying against pre-ticking, added: "By pre-ticking the opt-out, local authorities will restrict consumer choice and business opportunities alike."