The Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act: A Plain-English Guide for NZ Recruiters

New Zealand's anti-spam law, the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 (often shortened to UEMA), applies to email, text messages and instant messages that promote goods or services. Recruitment agencies send a lot of electronic messages, so it's worth knowing where the lines are.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. For anything specific to your agency, talk to a lawyer or check the guidance from the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), which enforces the Act.

The three rules in one sentence each

Consent: you can only send a commercial electronic message to someone who has consented to receive it.
Identify yourself: every commercial message must clearly and accurately identify who authorised it and how to contact them.
Unsubscribe: every commercial message must include a working way to opt out, and opt-outs must be honoured promptly. DIA treats messages still arriving five working days after an unsubscribe request as a sign the facility isn't working.

Which recruitment messages are "commercial"?

The Act targets messages that market or promote goods, services, land, a business or an investment. In recruitment, that includes:

Business development emails to potential clients offering your agency's services
Newsletters, job alerts and "hot candidate" emails sent to client lists
Marketing campaigns to candidate databases promoting your agency or events

Messages that facilitate or confirm something the recipient has already agreed to are generally treated differently. A candidate who applied for a role and is waiting to hear back reasonably expects updates about that application. Factual updates such as "your CV has gone to the client" or "the client has made a decision" are closer to that category than to marketing.

The grey area is the re-engagement message: contacting a past candidate about a new role, or pitching your services to someone who once made a single enquiry. Treat those as commercial and make sure you have consent and an unsubscribe option.

The three kinds of consent

Express consent: the person actively agreed, for example by ticking a box to receive job alerts or registering with your agency. This is the strongest kind. Keep a record of when and how they agreed.
Inferred consent: consent that can reasonably be inferred from an existing business or personal relationship, such as an active candidate you're working with. It can't be inferred from a single enquiry, a one-off transaction, or a relationship that has ended.
Deemed consent: applies where someone conspicuously publishes their work email in a business capacity (on their company website, for example) without saying they don't want unsolicited messages, and your message relates to their role. A hiring manager's published work address may qualify for a relevant business development email. A personal email address found online does not.

Silence never counts as consent. An email saying "reply STOP if you don't want to hear from us" does not create consent.

A practical checklist for agencies

Add a clear consent statement to your registration and application forms, covering what you'll send (job alerts, newsletters, updates).
Record consent in your ATS or CRM, with the date and source.
Put your agency name, a real contact address and an unsubscribe link in every marketing email and newsletter.
For text messages, include your agency name and a simple opt-out such as "Reply STOP to opt out".
Process unsubscribes quickly, ideally automatically, and make sure they apply across every system you send from.
Clean old data. A candidate who registered eight years ago and never heard from you since is not a warm relationship.

How RecruitBot NZ handles this

RecruitBot NZ identifies your agency as the sender of every message, includes an unsubscribe option, and stops all messages to anyone who opts out. Every message is approved by a recruiter before it sends. You remain responsible for having a lawful basis to contact your candidates, but the mechanics are taken care of.

Why it matters

DIA investigates complaints and can issue formal warnings and infringement notices, or take court action that can lead to significant financial penalties. The bigger cost for most agencies, though, is reputation. Candidates and clients talk, and in a market the size of New Zealand's, being known as the agency that won't stop texting is hard to shake.