Because of the spam ban, you may not just send marketing e-mails. In principle, this requires prior permission. But what about informative service messages? Is permission never required? Pay attention!

E-mail is a fast and convenient medium for communicating with (potential) customers. But this is subject to strict rules in the Netherlands. In principle, you may not send marketing e-mails without prior permission from the recipient. Exception: it is allowed to send e-mails to existing customers without permission regarding products or services they have previously purchased from you. According to article 11.7 of the Dutch Telecommunications Act, the spam ban applies to "commercial, charitable and idealistic" messages. But what messages now qualify as "commercial"?

Every form of advertising and recruiting messages falls under the spam ban. For an e-mail message in which (new) products or services are advertised, (in principle) permission is needed. A message quickly qualifies as 'commercial': even messages that advertise a company in general.

But what about an informative e-mail? For example, if you want to inform a (potential) customer about your offer, branches or a development within your company? Is prior consent then never required? Purely informative e-mails, also called service e-mails, are not commercial and therefore do not fall under the spam ban. For example, a message containing only information about an order or payment. But sometimes it is unclear whether an e-mail is purely informative. Think of a newsletter in which the recipients are also informed about an offer. Such an e-mail can still have an advertising character. Even if a purely informative e-mail (accidentally) contains an advertising footer, image or closing text, this can be regarded as a commercial message for which, in principle, prior permission is required. So pay close attention to whether you need permission to send e-mails, even for seemingly purely informative service e-mails.

Lisa Peek

4 October 2023