Unsolicited Electronic Messages Ordinance Part 3 3-8 Section 18 Cap. 593 (4) It is a defence to a charge for an offence under subsection (2) for the person charged to prove that he took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence. (5) In this section, use (用、使用) does not include the act of forwarding the address-harvesting software or harvestedaddress list to another person. 18. Sending of commercial electronic message to electronic address obtained using automated means (1) No person shall send a commercial electronic message that has a Hong Kong link to an electronic address that was obtained using an automated means. (2) A person who contravenes subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine at level 6 and to imprisonment for 2 years. (3) A person who knowingly contravenes subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable on conviction on indictment to a fine of $1,000,000 and to imprisonment for 5 years. (4) It is a defence to a charge for an offence under subsection (2) for the person charged to prove that he did not know and had no reason to suspect that the electronic address was obtained using an automated means. (5) It is a defence to a charge for an offence under subsection (2) for the person charged to prove that he took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence. (6) In this section— automated means (自動化方法) means an automated process that generates possible electronic addresses by combining letters, characters, numbers or symbols into numerous permutations; Last updated date 2.8.2012