E-Commerce Act

RTR maintains a registry of persons and companies who do not wish to receive promotional e-mail (i.e., the "ECG list"). Such parties can have their names entered in this registry free of charge.

How can I have my e-mail address placed on the ECG list?

In order to place your e-mail address on the ECG list, simply send an e-mail in which the address to be registered appears as the sender to eintragen@ecg.rtr.at using "Eintragen RTR-ECG Liste" as subject. Shortly after sending the message, you will receive a message requesting confirmation. Once you have answered that message, your address will be registered.

In addition to registering individual e-mail addresses, it is also possible to have entire domains placed on the ECG list. Domains can only be placed on the list by sending a message from the "postmaster" or "hostmaster" for the corresponding domain to "eintragen-domain@ecg.rtr.at". In order to avoid violating the rights of individual users of a domain, domain owners are required to have the domain removed from the list if requested to do so by a user.

Will entering my address on the list prevent spam from being sent to that address?

No. Spam is predominantly sent by people who do not care about legal regulations, and those people will probably not pay attention to the ECG list.

Who is required to adhere to the ECG list?

Service providers that send unsolicited advertising e-mail have to observe this list. However, non-registration in the ECG list does not automatically mean that sending unsolicited promotional e-mail is permitted. Under Art. 107 TKG 2003, sending e-mail advertisements is generally permitted only with the recipient’s prior consent, although there are certain exceptions within the scope of existing business relationships. Violations of Art. 107 TKG 2003 can be punished under administrative law (by a fine of up to EUR 37,000.00).

RTR is required to make the list available to all "information society service providers." In simplified terms, this refers to anyone who conducts business activities on the Internet, which describes the majority of companies in Europe. RTR can not verify whether companies are reliable or simply interested in misusing the ECG list (i.e., obtaining the list in order to send unsolicited messages to the e-mail addresses registered). Due to the implementation of new retrieval arrangements, it should no longer be possible to misuse the ECG list in this way in the future.

How can I retrieve the ECG list?

Click here for information on using and processing the ECG list.

Additional information

For more information on Austrian legislation regarding unsolicited e-mail and SMS advertising as well as ways to combat spam messages, please download the information sheet below (only available in German).