Criminal Penalties Chill Commercial Speech

Section 49 imposes criminal penalties of up to 10 years imprisonment for sending unsolicited electronic communications without prior consent or continuing after unsubscribe requests. While opt-in consent requirements align with international consumer protection standards (GDPR, CAN-SPAM), the criminalization of spam with imprisonment is fundamentally disproportionate and creates severe chilling effects on legitimate commercial speech. Most democracies treat this as an administrative or civil violation with monetary fines. The provision lacks graduated enforcement, safe harbors for good-faith compliance, or defenses for technical errors—forcing businesses to avoid electronic marketing entirely rather than risk criminal prosecution for inadvertent violations.