JULY 2006 - Number for junk mail complaints
By Stephen Forbes
JULY 2006 - The Marketing Association is setting up an 0800 number to deal with complaints about unsolicited junk mail and the dumping of printed material.
Complainants can call 0800 111 081 from 7am to 7pm, Monday to Friday.
It follows the Waitakere City Council’s announcement last month that its plans to introduce a bylaw to crack down on junk mail would be put on hold until a later date.
The council has instead decided to allow the industry to self-regulate.
Waitakere City Council officers had previously recommended creating a bylaw with a maximum fine of $20,000 for unsolicited junk mail to stop the problem.
Council policy analyst Caroil Bergquist outlined the issue in a report to councillors in June.
“The problem associated with such advertising is that inappropriate disposal often results in littering in public places.
“Responsibility for collecting and disposing of littered advertising then becomes the council’s with no ability to recover these costs”.
Under the proposed bylaw, it would be an offence to deliver unaddressed mail to letterboxes which state otherwise.
But Mrs Bergquist says during the council consultation process on the draft bylaw last year, it was opposed by a number of retailers, circular distributors and advertising companies.
“Submitters indicated that they believed regulation was unnecessary as letterbox stickers were generally being observed, and that self-regulation by the industry would be more effective than the bylaw”, Mrs Bergquist says.
The Marketing Association proposed a voluntary code of practice for the delivery of advertising material at the council hearings in May last year.
The National Code of Practice for the Distribution of Unaddressed Mail was released in May this year.
The council says it will now monitor the effectiveness of the industry’s code of practice and defer the introduction of part 5 of the bylaw until a later date.
In July last year the North Shore and Waitakere city councils commissioned a survey by Envision New Zealand to look at the issue of Junk Mail.
To read the National Code of Practice for the Distribution of Unaddressed Mail,
click here
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