Here's the scenario:

I am a web application developer in the UK. I have a client who wishes
to send emails from his website to email addresses that have been
collected from public directories and company websites.

These emails would contain requests for quotations sent "from" users
of the website and "to" various suppliers around the UK. The suppliers
selected for mailing would be based on information given by these
suppliers on their websites, matching user requests to advertised
product availability.

The suppliers would not have signed up for the service - it would be unsolicited.

My question is, is there anything wrong with doing this? Could he be
correctly accused of sending unsolicited commercial email/spam? How
does UK/EU law affect this situation? How does making the emails
appear to have come "from" the website users affect the situation?

TIA

Tom

Well, it would certainly not improve your customer's reputation with
the people he sends his unsolicited mails to. For those who get it, it
will be Spam, no matter what the laws call it. In my humble opinion,
it's unethical to support anyone who tries to flood the Internet with
even more Spam.

Scriptor

He could damage his reputation as stated correctly in the answer
above, but more importantly is risking losing his web hosting.
Suggest to him that if he is wanting to do this that he will need
bullet proof spammer hosting.
There are several conpanies that provide this.
Get him some prices for this and tell him that it will be several
thousands of pounds to set up,, this should put him off.
Also tell him to have money ready to cover the fines and court costs
he may be forced to pay.
If this dosent put him off;
Do it properly with getting full details of the companys and including
them in the e-mail in a personal way.
If the e-mail is written to an individual with a contact name and
dosent look like spam, it cannot be construed as spam.
Also dont use a bulk mailer,, send the e-mail one at a time.

If this dosent work,,, walk away

Thanks for your replies.

I am firmly against generating spam and have doubts about writing the
code to support this.

Ironically I'm sure that the client is also against receiving spam -
he's just looking at it from the other end of the spectrum in this
context.

It is interesting to see that you both agree on the fact that this is
in fact unsolicited commerial email.

I see several issues here:
- sending UCE is against the terms of the ISP contract
- re-homing the website once he loses the current hosting will be
impossibly expensive
- loss of reputation with potential future clients 
- ethics of sending/supporting UCE
- possible legal costs

Anything else I've missed?

Cheers
Tom

I know exactly the position you are in.
The client is always right and will always have ideas that they know best.
Something your clint has missed is
http://www.shortnews.com/web/id/39848/u_id/56602/x_id/3-1/2%20to%207%20Years%20in%20Jail%20for%20Spammer/start.cfm

If you set it up for hime you are the creater of the system and he is the `spammer`

You are in UK so it would possibly Armley Jail.
I cannot see them putting you in Wakefield High security prison or Wormwood scrubs.
Maybe because it a so called `white collar` crime they may put you
both in an open prison.
Anyway ,, good luck with your clients project. :)

OK, thanks all for your comments. I've persuaded the client not to do
this, whatever he thinks about the business sense of it.

Cheers again.
Tom