I thought fax broadcast was illegal.

There is a legal way to fax. In fact, broadcast fax is great for any industry that relies heavily on fax as a means of communications.

Public relations is one of the largest users of broadcast fax. Public relation agencies use broadcast fax to send press releases to hundreds of journalists at once. Public relations firms are not the only industry that can benefit from broadcast fax. Real estate, as an example, is still a fax-heavy industry. Agents fax listings to multiple clients or other agents. Regional managers for large real-estate firms can fax reports to multiple property managers.

Broadcast fax has always been popular for targeted advertising and promotions:

• The travel industry sends special offers, last-minute promotions and travel alerts to thousands of travel agents.
• Restaurant can send lunch menus and weekly specials to local offices that have signed up to receive faxes.
• Businesses of all sizes can offer special deals or promotions to existing clients.

Fax advertising, however, has come under legal scrutiny leading to strict Federal and State anti-spam laws. According to Title 47 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, “It shall be unlawful for any person within the United States to use any telephone facsimile machine, computer, or other device to send an unsolicited advertisement to a telephone facsimile machine”.

[Source: http://uscode.house.gov/download/title_47.shtml]

The law was amended with the passing of the Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005. Under the new legislations, unsolicited faxes can be sent to businesses with which the client has an “established business relationship” or EBR.

An EBR is defined by the Federal Communications Commission as “a prior or existing relationship formed by a voluntary two-way communication between a person or entity and a business or residential subscriber with or without an exchange of consideration [payment], on the basis of an inquiry, application, purchase or transaction by the business or residential subscriber regarding products or services offered by such person or entity, which relationship has not been previously terminated by either party”.

The FCC also establishes several ground rules for obtaining fax numbers from companies and individuals with whom you have an EBR.

You should always make sure the method is in compliance with State and Federal regulations before sending faxes. If you are unsure you should ask your trusted legal professional.

The Junk Fax Prevention Act of 2005 also states that all unsolicited fax advertisements must include clear instructions for opting out of all future broadcast faxes from the sender. The opt-out process must be free of charge and must be listed on the first page of the fax. To request to be opted out, all a consumer has to do is provide his fax number to the company directly. Openfax offers a toll-free fax removal service to help with this requirement as an additional service.

[Source: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/unwantedfaxes.html]

By being a responsible marketer and following State and Federal laws and regulations you will not only keep your broadcast fax campaign legal, but earn more business from your established business relationships.