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| F.1 Questions Regarding the Notice Requirement |
| Q: Does the CCC notice apply to existing customers/donors, as well as prospective customers/donors? |
A: Yes, you are required to provide notice to existing customers/donors that they can modify or eliminate the receipt of future commercial mailings.
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| Q: Does the CCC notice informing consumers that they can modify or eliminate the receipt of future mail apply to nonprofit mailers as well as commercial direct marketers? |
A: Yes, the requirement to provide such notice applies to all DMA members who communicate with consumers.
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| Q: Does the CCC-required notice (to modify or eliminate the receipt of mail) need to be in a particular place on the mailing, or a certain color, font, or size? |
A: No, those specifics are up to you, as long as the notice is easy for consumers to find, read, understand, and act upon.
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| Q: Does the notice in the mailing piece itself have to let consumers know how to eliminate future commercial mail? |
A: No, the notice itself can refer to opportunities to modify the amount or kind of mail received, as long as it also points to other means for a consumer to choose to eliminate the receipt of mail. Your notice can, for example, refer consumers to your website’s privacy policy (where they can opt out of the receipt of mail, if they wish).
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| Q: Does the notice to modify or eliminate the receipt of mail apply to all mail I send to my customers/donors and prospective customers/donors? |
A: No, the notice requirement applies only when the primary purpose of the mailing is to seek sales/donations. You do not have to provide a notice on mailings when the primary purpose is informational, for instance, order confirmations, invoices, and the like.
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| Q: Does this mean my organization does not have to provide notice about transfer of customer information to other marketers, as under DMA’s Privacy Promise. |
A: The new CCC still requires that marketers provide notice of rental, sale, or exchange of customer information to third-party marketers soon after a prospect becomes a customer or donor and at least annually thereafter.
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| Q: If my organization markets under various division names, does it have to suppress a consumer’s name from all of them? |
A: No, consumer perception of your organization brands is key to deciding how to handle in-house suppression requests. If a consumer asks to be removed from one subsidiary or division of your organization, this does not necessarily mean that every brand in the corporate structure has to honor the request.
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| Q: Is there a required time-frame for when the consumer’s name should be placed on my organization’s in-house suppression list? |
A: A consumer’s name should be placed on the marketer’s in-house suppression list within 30 days. It is understood that some mailings will be in process at the time of the consumer’s request. We suggest that you inform consumers they may receive mail that was already in process and that mailings will cease within a certain period of time.
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| Q: When should a CCC-required notice be included on renewal mailings? What does DMA consider the Established Business Relationship (EBR) to be under the CCC? |
A: The CCC notice is NOT required on magazine or association (or other) renewals. However, please note the following conditions:
If a Subscriber/Member Requests Cancellation – in this situation, you may continue to contact the lapsed subscriber from the point of lapsing for an additional six months.
No Request – in a passive situation, where a lapsed subscriber or member has NOT requested cancellation, the magazine or association would fall under the 18-month existing business relationship. You could continue to contact that lapsed subscriber/member for that period of time and still be in compliance. Therefore, the CCC notice should appear on the mailing after the EBR period is over – a maximum of 18 months.
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| F.2 Questions Regarding Source |
| Q: How can we comply with this requirement when we have an agreement with our list source that this information will not be revealed? |
A: DMA requests that marketers not enter into agreements with list sources that would prohibit disclosing the source of information to consumers. Also, you should make sure that your own lists are not rented or sold with this non-disclosure of source provision.
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| Q: What is the correct answer to give consumers about where we got their name when we got it from a cooperative database – not a specific cataloger? |
A: If your organization rented the consumer’s name through a cooperative database or other multi-list provider, it is sufficient to tell the consumer the name of that entity.
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| F.3 Questions Regarding the Use of DMAchoice (encompasses the former Mail Preference Service) |
| Q: Why do we need to use DMAchoice every month instead of four times per year? |
A: The purpose of this requirement is so that consumers will see the effects of name removal much quicker. It is another way of being more responsive to consumers’ requests to have more control over the mail they receive. (See www.DMAchoice.org for more information.)
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| F.4 Questions Regarding General Compliance Issues |
| Q: Can I do business with non-DMA members that are not bound to follow these rules? |
A: Yes. But, DMA member list owners, managers, users, brokers, and suppliers should exercise their own independent business judgment as to whether to adopt contractual provisions to encourage compliance. (See the CCC Member Compliance Guide in the Library section of www.DMACCC.org for an example of such contractual provision.)
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| Q: Do resident/occupant/saturation mailers have to follow the Commitment to Consumer Choice? |
A: DMA believes that such mailers should abide by the CCC to the extent that they are able to suppress individual consumer addresses. Under DMA’s (previous) Privacy Promise, the belief was that because the mail was not delivered to an individual at a particular address, there was not a privacy violation. However, the CCC addresses consumer concerns about not only privacy, but also about consumers’ general annoyance and irritation at the receipt of unwanted mail as well as its environmental impact. In the spirit of responding to today’s broader concerns, resident/occupant/saturation mailers should abide by the CCC.
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| Q: Must I follow the Commitment to Consumer Choice when communicating to consumers in other countries? |
A: DMA encourages those marketing to consumers in other countries to follow the principles of notice, in-house suppression, and opt out. If appropriate, the use of DMA’s Foreign Mail Preference Services (F-MPS), which includes name-removal files of Belgium, the United Kingdom, and Germany, is encouraged. Information on F-MPS can be found at http://preference.the-dma.org/products.
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| Q: My organization is small and adhering to the Commitment to Consumer Choice is time consuming and expensive for such a small operation. Must we adhere? |
A: It is important for DMA to be able to assure the public that all of our consumer marketer members follow the rules. DMA members in the unique circumstance of contacting so few prospects each year as to make using the Mail Preference Service and meeting the other CCC requirements burdensome and unduly expensive may apply to DMA for assistance or a possible exemption. It is important to note that any relaxation of the obligations under the CCC may be granted only by DMA’s Committee on Ethical Business Practice. To contact the Committee, write to DMA’s Department of Corporate Responsibility, 1615 L Street, NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20036 or ethics@the-dma.org.
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| Q: What are the rules for co-marketing ventures where both companies have access to customer data? |
A: DMA members should see to it that all their business ventures, including joint ventures, satisfy the Commitment to Consumer Choice. DMA members should take all reasonable steps to assure that customer data generated by a co-marketing venture with a non-DMA member are used in accordance with the CCC.
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| Q: What happens if a DMA member does not follow the Commitment to Consumer Choice? |
A: If DMA’s Committee on Ethical Business Practice determines that a member appears not to be in compliance with the Commitment to Consumer Choice, the organization will be contacted and asked for immediate compliance. The member will then need to come into compliance and/or demonstrate to the Committee that its practices are consistent with the CCC. (DMA Corporate & Social Responsibility staff attempt to gain compliance before an individual matter is referred to the ethics committee. Ongoing monitoring also takes place to ensure member compliance with the CCC.) Any unanswered Committee questions or unmet Committee requests will be referred to the DMA Board of Directors for appropriate action, which may include censure, suspension, or expulsion from the DMA, and publicity to that effect.
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| Q: What is the role of suppliers in this process? |
A: Suppliers are an essential partner in meeting the requirements of the Commitment to Consumer Choice. If you are a supplier, you should take steps to encourage compliance with the CCC. That could include educating your clients about the CCC, and might include inserting special statements in contacts encouraging compliance, such as “(Supplier) strongly endorses compliance with DMA’s Commitment to Consumer Choice. This includes endorsing the use of DMAchoice every month, and requesting that every list owner, manager, and user use this file in accordance with the direct marketing community’s Commitment to Consumer Choice; providing consumer notice regarding options to modify or eliminate future mailings, and honoring such requests; and providing the source of consumer information on a mailing piece, upon request.” For more information, contact the DMA’s Washington, DC office at 202.955.5030 or ethics@the-dma.org.
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