The Supply of Information (Register of Deaths) Regulations 2007 Act came into force in England and Wales on January 1, with similar, separate regulations applying to Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The Act, which specifies to whom the Registrars General can disclose information on registered deaths for the purposes of prevention, detection or prosecution of offences, refers to list cleaning as a permitted use, defined for the purpose of fraud prevention.

This marks a victory for the Direct Marketing Association, which has lobbied for access to death registration data for list cleaning purposes since 1991.

Rosemary Smith, chairman of the DMA and managing director of RSA Direct, told printweek.com the data might mean a small reduction in mailing volumes but this was ultimately beneficial for the industry.

"We've been lobbying for the best part of 20 years to get this deceased data released because one of the most common complaints of the public is mailings to dead people, which is very upsetting [for the bereaved relatives] and has a negative impact on their view of direct mail," Smith said.

"There have been a number of commercial suppression files available... but this will be more comprehensive and, most importantly, more up to date."

Currently two out of three direct mailings already use suppression services and this could increase if the data becomes more widely available. However, Smith cautioned that this would depend on the cost of the government data.

She said the data would come with very strict licensing controls because it was important that the data did not fall into the wrong hands.

Smith said list cleaning reduced wastage and made direct mailing campaigns more efficient and targeted. "It potentially means a pack doesn't get printed but in terms of the overall reputation of direct mail it's a positive thing," she added.

A backlash against so-called "junk mail" has led to many consumers registering on the Mailing Preference Service (MPS) to specify that they do not wish to receive commercial mailings.

Currently 3.5m of the 25m households in the UK are registered on the MPS.