E-guide_e-marketing law:layout

Marketing knowledge for high-tech companies A guide to the law on e-mail
marketing in Europe
Do you intend to run e-mail marketing
This e-guide uses the UK as an illustrative campaigns to electronics companies in Europe,
example of the law on e-mail marketing in Europe; but worry about how to comply with the law?
it does not exhaustively describe the implementation Many marketers are concerned that, by e-
of the EC directive in all 27 member states. This is mail marketing to customers and prospects
a useful approach: the law in every European in Europe, they will break ‘privacy’ or ‘spam’
Union (EU) country will be fairly similar, since it is laws, and face fines or other punishment.
This e-guide tells you what you need to know,
and where to go for comprehensive legal
But it should also be said that every EU country information on the topic.
has made up its own mind how to interpret andimplement the directive – and some have taken a Fortunately, the law on e-mail marketing in Europe less relaxed approach to business-to-business e- is derived from just one main source: European Commission directive 2002/58/EC. (The EuropeanCommission is the closest thing the European What you can and cannot do under the PECR
Union has to a ‘government’.) From here, Responsibility for enforcement of the UK’s PECR, however, things become more complicated. This is and for action to punish those who fail to comply because the EC directive is implemented in law at with it, rests with a government body, the the nation state level – and there are 27 member states of the EU. So, in the UK for instance, theEC directive finds its expression in the ‘Privacy The first thing to be clear about is that PECR and Electronics Communications (EC Directive) applies to you if you send any sort of direct Regulations 2003’ – commonly known as PECR. marketing communication by electronic means: ‘electronic means’ include telephone, fax, SMS marketing e-mails before you send them - that is, and video message as well as e-mail. In other messages where the recipient’s address is a words, whatever kind of UK e-marketing campaign you are planning, assume you need to comply [email protected]). Strangely, even e- mail marketing universally recognised as spam,such as mass broadcast e-mails promoting Viagra, The regulations in relation to business-to-business (B2B) e-mail marketing, however, are significantly addressees are corporate e-mail accounts.
different from those that apply when marketing to‘individual subscribers’ (that is, consumers or A note of caution, however. Before you stop worrying entirely about whether your e-marketing can be seen as ‘spam’, you should Under PECR, e-mail marketing to consumers is remember that data protection laws also apply to tightly controlled in relation to the permission you need before sending your message. You can e- mail consumers who have specifically asked you individual – and this includes employees of to e-mail them (‘solicited’ e-mail). And you can e- organisations – the fundamental and enforceable The consumer has the right at any time to opt out So you will be breaking the law if you continue to of your communications, and you must abide by send B2B marketing messages to the e-mail address of any named individual if that individualhas asked you not to use the address for What the PECR says about e-mail marketing
marketing. Also, you must not use an individual’s to company contacts
name or data in a marketing database without In the UK, none of these rules about consent and consent. But in both cases, the law you will be permission applies to B2B e-mail marketing. breaking in the UK is the Data Protection Actrather than the PECR regulations on e-mail The PECR describes B2B campaigns as marketing to ‘corporate subscribers’ – that is, where the e-mail address belongs to a corporate entity. In any It is, of course, possible to run e-mail marketing e-mail campaign to employees or officers of a campaigns without holding any personal data – you could, for instance, broadcast to a list of e- • disclose your company’s identity to the recipient mail addresses without knowing the names of the • give the recipient a valid address through which people those e-mail addresses belonged to. In they can opt out of your marketing messages.
this case, data protection laws would not apply to This can be an e-mail address, but it is also your campaigns, and you could, from a legal point considered good practice to allow people to opt of view, safely send e-mails in this way.
But from a marketing point of view, this is spam, Fail to do these things, and you will be breaking pure and simple, even if it is legal. Skilled marketers run e-mail marketing campaigns toknown customers and prospects. In this case, you But under PECR, you are under no obligation to will need to comply with the data protection laws obtain the consent of the recipient of B2B of whichever country you are operating in.
Is the law elsewhere in Europe the same as
• Comply immediately with individuals’ requests the law in the UK?
for you not to use their data, or to see what Each member of the European Union enacts the EC’s directive separately, and some European • Comply immediately with individuals’ requests countries have interpreted the directive’s rules for you not to send marketing messages to about e-mailing to ‘corporate subscribers’ differently from the UK. Similarly, each European • Treat your customers and prospects as you Union country has its own data protection law.
Again, like the UK’s, this will be based on ECdirectives, but each member state can interpretdirectives in its own way. So while the laws on e-mail marketing acrossEurope are derived from pronouncements inBrussels, in practice the law is not the sameeverywhere in Europe. To make absolutely surethat you comply with the law, you will need tostudy the law for each country in which yourcampaign is to run. The ‘Resources’ section belowlists a useful guide to the law published by thein the US. More Resources
A more practical approach, however, is simply to follow best practice in e-mail and direct marketing as laid down by professional bodies such as the publishes an excellent document, Guidance for practice exceeds the minimum standards for respect that applies in the UK. It is freely available at of data rights and privacy laid down in the law. These simple principles are common to the best A comprehensive guide to the international law practices outlined by these direct marketing on e-mail marketing, the International Email Compliance Resource Guide, is published by • Gain explicit consent from your intended the US’s Direct Marketing Association (DMA).
recipients before sending e-mail marketing You can purchase it online at www.the-dma.org messages to them. Do not assume that consent for $240. It gives guidance to the law on e-mail for one type of message gives you blanket marketing in most of the world’s developed permission to send any other type of message.
countries, including the UK, Germany, France, Keep to the spirit as well as the letter of the • When you gather data from customers and prospects, tell them why you are gathering it, publishes useful ‘Best practice’ guides on many and what you plan to do with their data. Ask TKO Marketing Consultants, the publisher of IP Club, is a PR,advertising and design services agency specialising in theelectronics industry. If you would like to discuss e-mail marketing to European electronics professionals, please call Guy Forster on +44 1444 473555 or e-mail [email protected].

Source: http://www.tko.co.uk/ipclub/pdf/email_law_0210.pdf