In the E-Commerce Directive (2000/31/EC), a "country of reception" rule is foreseen for unsolicited commercial communications, in contradiction to the rest of the Directive, which supports a "country of origin" principle for e-commerce.

As a result of this, European companies will have to obey the rules of all EU member states where their unsolicited e-mail might be received . The following table gives an overview of the legal situation which the current Cappato amendment would produce. Under opt-in, the same simple consent-based rules would apply in all countries.

Note: This summary does not cover further distortions to the single market as a result of

1. Implementation of different versions of opt-out for countries that choose this option.
2. Changes as a result of the upcoming Rome II Regulation.
3. Further distortions of the single market in this area by implementation of the 1995 Directive by countries who have not yet transposed
4. Further distortions resulting from different member states handling converged technologies (fax messages to mobile phones for example) in different ways.

Red = Opt-in
Green = Implementing Opt-in
Grey = Supports opt-out but no implemetation

COUNTRY	Data Protection Directive 1995 (95/46/EC)	E-Commerce Directive (2000/31/EC)	Distance Selling Directive (97/7/EC)
Austria	All data processing must be notified in advance to data protection authority	Superceded by implementation of 97/7/EC	Implements opt-in - provisions are more strict than the directive
Belgium	Late and very weak implementation	Planned opt-in	No effect (does not  implement opt-out)
Denmark	Fails to distinguish between corporate and personal data	Superceded by implementation of 97/7/EC	Implements opt-in for e-mail only, not other forms of communication
France	Not yet clear - Data Protection Authority supports opt-in.	Plans opt-out, but no plans on how this is implemented	No effect (does not implement opt-out)
Finland	Implements opt-in but for the moment marketers are being allowed to send unsolicited messages to customers asking if they can send them unsolicited messages	Commercial e-mail needs to be clearly identifiable as such	Spam covered by telecoms data security act
Germany	Very strict - some organisations claim the directive is "gold plated"	Labelling provisions included under opt-in	Spam prohibited already by other means - opt-in provisions are more stringent than the directive
Greece	"Processing of personal data will be permitted only when the data subject has given his/her consent." Appears to prohibit processing of e-mail addresses by third parties without active consent	No text notified yet.	Implements opt-in - transposed provisions on e-mail are stricter than the directive
Ireland	Very late implementation	Probably opt-out but confusion regarding how to implement	No provisions on unsolicited e-mail transposed
Italy	Fails to distinguish between corporate  and personal data	Superceded by implementation of 97/7/EC	Implemented opt-in
Luxembourg	Not yet in force	Supports opt-out but no specific plans on how to implement	No measures notified yet to the Commission
Netherlands	No specific restrictions, national telecoms regulator supports opt-in	Illegal to send e-mail to consumers sigened up to a register.	No measures notified yet to the Commission
Spain	Only general provisions - access to and the right to modify information and data must be used for the purpose for which it was gathered	Plans to implements opt-in	No measures notified yet to the Commission
Sweden	The supervisory authority is entitled for its supervision to obtain on request a) access to the personal data that is processed, b) information about and documentation of the processing of personal data and security of this processing	Supports opt-out, but without any clear plans on how this will be implemented.	Supports company by company opt-out
Portugal	Data subject must be informed of third party obtaining personal data and purposes for which it will be used - restricted opt-out regime	No effect	No effect (opt-out registers already foreseen)
United Kingdom	DP Authority will only act if a message contains evidence of being the result of illegal data collection	Undecided	Ignores relevant provision - consultation underway on this issue in relation to Directive 95/46/EC