Anti-spam laws and the EU

Find out which European Union directives and activities impact on email marketing practices in Europe.

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Summary

The EU issued a formal "Privacy and Electronic Communications" Directive in 2002, specifically covering the sending of unsolicited commercial email. Member states are obliged to implement directives in their own national legislation. Indeed, EU directives carry no practical implications on their own, but only when actually transcribed into local laws.

Don't expect all EU countries to share common email marketing laws, though, despite the standard established in the EU document. The directive leaves it up to each country to choose their preferred approach on some issues. For example, B2B emails require a mandatory opt-in in Austria, but may be sent to some companies on an opt-out basis in the UK. Countries also differ in how they interpret the wording of the directive.

So although the EU documents give you an overview of the base standard in Europe, you still need to check each country's local email marketing laws on a case-by-case basis.

Key documents

Unsolicited communications - Fighting Spam
Page from the EU with information and links on EU anti-spam legislation and activities. Check the news section for updates on relevant EU policy and projects.

EU Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive
Access to the full text of Directive 2002/58/EC on data protection and privacy, "concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector." Article 13(1) deals specifically with the issue of unsolicited commercial email.

Communication from the EU Commission
...on fighting spam, spyware and malicious software. Issued in November, 2006, this is a statement of intent and call to arms. But it remains to be seen whether it leads to any actual action by the EU or its member states.

Other links

FEDMA
The Federation of European Direct Marketing maintains regular updates on (and interpretations of) EU data protection initiatives, including the directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications.

Europe not so harmonious
Survey reveals that anti-spam laws in Europe are not yet fully harmonized across all countries.

New Email Marketing Rules in the European Union
Offers a very thorough overview of the state of email marketing legislation in the EU (as of mid-2005).