GDPR Privacy Details per European Country for Email Outreach
The first thing you want to get out of the way are legal concerns when outreaching to people via emails. With GDPR there is a lot of different restrictions that make Europe a complicated place to make business. We are not surprised why so many EU companies jumps overseas to USA as soon as they can afford it. There are many other reasons for that for sure, like a bigger market with less complication to make business but email outreach is being one of the hot topics at the moment. Here are some rules you should follow when doing email outreach in Europe.
| Country | Law of Reference | Informed Consent | Business Email Address | “Generic” address | “Soft” Opt‑in | Compulsory Unsub Link |
| Austria | § 107 of the new Telecom-Law 2003 (TKG 2003). | Yes | Opt-in is required if: -the email is sent for purposes of direct marketing, or -the email was sent to more than 50 recipients. | Opt-in not required | Yes | Yes |
| Belgium | Chapter IV, art. 13 to 15 of 11 March 2003 Law on certain legal aspects of information society services | Yes | Opt-in required in all cases ‘Opt-in principle’ applies | Opt-in not required | Yes | Yes |
| Denmark | Section 6(1) of the 2000 and the 2005 Marketing Practises Act. | Yes | Opt-in required in all cases | Opt-in required | Yes | Yes |
| Finland | the Code for Information Society and Communications Services (917/2014, ‘Information Society Code’) which entered into force on 1 January 2015 | Yes | Opt-in is generally required but IF the product or service advertised is in direct relation to the recipient’s job title, prior consent is NOT required. | Opt-in not required | Yes | Yes |
| France | CNIL’s 2 March 2005 Interpretation of the 1995 European Directive regarding email marketing in a B2B environment. | Yes | Opt-in is generally required but IF the product or service advertised is in direct relation to the recipient’s job title, prior consent is NOT required. | Opt-in not required | Yes | Yes |
| Germany | § 7. of the “Gesetz gegen den unlauteren Wettbewerb” (Law Against Unfair Competition) | Yes | Opt-in required in all cases. Messages must also contain an “opt-out from behaviour tracking” facility, to allow respondents to refuse their open/click behaviour to be tracked and recorded. | Opt-in required | Yes | Yes |
| Ireland | Section 13 of the European Communities Regulations 2003 (as amended by the Citizens’ Rights Directive) effective on 1 July 2011. | Yes | Opt-in is generally required but IF the product or service advertised is in direct relation to the recipient’s job title, prior consent is NOT required. | Opt-in not required | Yes | Yes |
| Italy | Chapter X, section 130 of Legislative Decree no. 196 of 30 June 2003 | Yes | Opt-in required in all cases | Opt-in required | Yes | Yes |
| Netherlands | Article 11.7 of the Dutch Telecommunication Act | Yes | Opt-in required except if the personalised business email address is available publicly on the Internet (in social media for example). In these cases, prior consent is NOT required. | Opt-in required | Yes | Yes |
| Norway | Article 11.7 of the Dutch Telecommunication Act | Yes | Opt-in required in all cases | Opt-in required | Yes | Yes |
| Spain | General Telecom Law 32/2003 on Electronic Communications Act, amending the 2002 Law on Electronic Commerce and Services of the Information Society (March 2012) | Yes | Opt-in required in all cases | Opt-in required | Yes | Yes |
| Sweden | The 15 June 2008 Swedish Marketing Act & The Personal Data Act 1998:204 | Yes | Opt-in is generally required but IF the product or service advertised is in direct relation to the recipient’s job title, prior consent is NOT required. | Opt-in not required | Yes | Yes |
| Switzerland | New Federal Telecommunication Law of April 1st 2007 – UCA act | Yes | Opt-in required in all cases | Opt-in required | Yes | Yes |
| United Kingdom | December 2003 Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations | Yes | Opt-in NOT required | Opt-in not required | Yes | Yes |