Where the ACMA finds a breach of the spam rules, it has four responses: a formal warning, an infringement notice, a court-enforceable undertaking, or proceedings in the Federal Court, which can impose significant penalties. The Act sets its maximum penalties in penalty units, scaled by whether the breach is of the consent rule, whether the person is a body corporate, and whether the Court has already penalised them under the same provision.
General informationAbout how the Spam Act 2003 is enforced, not legal advice about any matter. The ACMA lists its outcomes on its page of investigations into spam and telemarketing; the penalties are in Part 4 and Schedule 3 of the Act.
How the ACMA chooses what to pursue
The ACMA says its activities depend on the risk of harm and the impact on consumers, and that it draws on complaints, reports, industry feedback and information from international regulators. Anyone who thinks the rules have been broken can complain to the ACMA, and if the issue is serious or ongoing it may investigate. It publishes quarterly reports of the actions it takes as a result of its investigations.
Not every matter ends in a penalty. The ACMA describes compliance alerts as a chance for a business to take early corrective action, fixing small issues before they become serious and avoiding costly penalties. It also says a business that has broken the spam rules may help fix the issue quickly by telling the ACMA, and that a case may be resolved without further action.
The four tools
- Federal Court
The Act names civil penalties and injunctions as its main remedies. If the Federal Court is satisfied a person has contravened a civil penalty provision, it may order a pecuniary penalty for each contravention. Proceedings may be started within 6 years of the contravention.
- Infringement notice
Schedule 3 sets up infringement notices as an alternative to Federal Court proceedings. A notice must be given within 12 months of the day of the alleged contraventions, and states that the matter will not go to the Federal Court if the penalty is paid within 28 days, or a longer period the ACMA allows. Once it is paid, liability for the alleged contraventions is discharged.
- Formal warning
Section 41 lets the ACMA warn formally anyone who breaches a civil penalty provision.
- Enforceable undertaking
The ACMA may accept a written undertaking about commercial electronic messages or address-harvesting software, and may apply to the Federal Court if it considers the terms have been breached.
Maximum penalties, in penalty units
| Who | Consent rules, each | Consent rules, total in one day | Other rules, each | Other rules, total in one day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Body corporate, no prior record | 100 | 2,000 | 50 | 1,000 |
| Individual, no prior record | 20 | 400 | 10 | 200 |
| Body corporate, prior record | 500 | 10,000 | 250 | 5,000 |
| Individual, prior record | 100 | 2,000 | 50 | 1,000 |
The Act states these in penalty units and gives no dollar figure. An infringement notice uses a smaller scale, set by Schedule 3, and each notice covers alleged breaches of one provision on one day: for a body corporate, 20 units for one alleged breach of the consent rules, 20 times the number for 2 to 49, and 1,000 for 50 or more; for the other rules, 10, 10 times the number, and 500. For an individual the steps are 4, 4 times the number and 200, and 2, 2 times the number and 100.
Illustration, not a real caseA notice to an agency that is a body corporate, covering 30 marketing texts allegedly sent without consent on one day, would carry 20 × 30 = 600 penalty units. One covering 80 such texts sent on a single day would carry 1,000, the fixed figure for 50 or more. The amounts in the record below are the ones the ACMA reports for each matter.
The published record, without names
Every spam outcome against a company that the ACMA lists from June 2023 to July 2026, newest first. One February 2023 outcome against an individual trader is left out, so that no person can be identified from this page. The failings are those named in the ACMA’s one-line description; where it joins them with “or”, the row keeps the “or”, as the ACMA wrote it.
- Consent: sent without it
- Sender: missing or inadequate details of who sent it
- Unsubscribe: no working way to opt out
| Published | Messages | Failings named | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 2026 | Emails and SMS | consent | $1,254,000 infringement notice |
| April 2026 | SMS | sender details, unsubscribe | $3,960,000 infringement notice and enforceable undertaking |
| March 2026 | Emails | unsubscribe | $702,900 infringement notice and enforceable undertaking |
| July 2025 | Emails and SMS | consent, unsubscribe | $871,660 infringement notice and enforceable undertaking |
| June 2025 | SMS and WhatsApp messages | consent, sender details, unsubscribe | $4,003,270 infringement notice and enforceable undertaking |
| May 2025 | Emails and SMS | consent, sender details, unsubscribe | $500,800 infringement notice and enforceable undertaking |
| March 2025 | SMS | consent, unsubscribe | $626,000 infringement notice and enforceable undertaking |
| October 2024 | Emails and SMS | consent, unsubscribe | $7,502,610 infringement notice and enforceable undertaking |
| May 2024 | Emails | consent, sender details, unsubscribe | $2,502,500 infringement notice and enforceable undertaking |
| April 2024 | Emails | consent, unsubscribe | $1,512,500 infringement notice and enforceable undertaking |
| January 2024 | SMS | consent | $302,500 infringement notice and enforceable undertaking |
| October 2023 | Emails and SMS | consent | $515,040 infringement notice and enforceable undertaking |
| October 2023 | Emails | consent | $1,303,500 infringement notice and enforceable undertaking |
| October 2023 | Emails | consent or unsubscribe | $412,500 infringement notice |
| August 2023 | Emails and SMS | consent or unsubscribe | $2,011,320 infringement notice and enforceable undertaking |
| June 2023 | Emails and SMS | consent or unsubscribe | $1,047,840 infringement notice and enforceable undertaking |
| June 2023 | Emails and SMS | consent or unsubscribe | $3,552,000 infringement notice and enforceable undertaking |
Reading the record
Every one of these matters ended in an infringement notice, and most also in an enforceable undertaking. The ACMA warns that mistakes with spam and telemarketing rules can bring reputational damage with customers as well as possible enforcement action and significant financial penalties.