Regulation 22Use of electronic mail for direct marketing purposes

(1) This regulation applies to the transmission of unsolicited communications by means of electronic mail to individual subscribers.

(2) Except in the circumstances referred to in paragraph (3) [^F1or (3A)], a person shall neither transmit, nor instigate the transmission of, unsolicited communications for the purposes of direct marketing by means of electronic mail unless the recipient of the electronic mail has previously notified the sender that he consents for the time being to such communications being sent by, or at the instigation of, the sender.

(3) A person may send or instigate the sending of electronic mail for the purposes of direct marketing where—

• (a)
  that person has obtained the contact details of the recipient of that electronic mail in the course of the sale or negotiations for the sale of a product or service to that recipient;
• (b)
  the direct marketing is in respect of that person’s similar products and services only; and
• (c)
  the recipient has been given a simple means of refusing (free of charge except for the costs of the transmission of the refusal) the use of his contact details for the purposes of such direct marketing, at the time that the details were initially collected, and, where he did not initially refuse the use of the details, at the time of each subsequent communication.

(3A) [^F2 A charity may send or instigate the sending of electronic mail for the purposes of direct marketing where—

• (a)
  the sole purpose of the direct marketing is to further one or more of the charity’s charitable purposes;
• (b)
  the charity obtained the contact details of the recipient of the electronic mail in the course of the recipient—

  • (i)
    expressing an interest in one or more of the purposes that were the charity’s charitable purposes at that time; or
  • (ii)
    offering or providing support to further one or more of those purposes; and
• (c)
  the recipient has been given a simple means of refusing (free of charge except for the costs of the transmission of the refusal) the use of their contact details for the purposes of direct marketing by the charity, at the time that the details were initially collected, and, where the recipient did not initially refuse the use of the details, at the time of each subsequent communication.]

(4) A subscriber shall not permit his line to be used in contravention of paragraph (2).

(5) [^F3 In this regulation, “charity” means—

• (a)
  a charity as defined in section 1(1) of the Charities Act 2011,
• (b)
  a charity as defined in section 1(1) of the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 (c. 12 (N.I.)), including an institution treated as such a charity for the purposes of that Act by virtue of the Charities Act 2008 (Transitional Provision) Order (Northern Ireland) 2013 (S.R. (N.I.) 2013 No. 211), and
• (c)
  a body entered in the Scottish Charity Register, other than a body which no longer meets the charity test in section 7 of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 (asp 10),

and, in relation to such a charity, institution or body, “charitable purpose” has the meaning given in the relevant Act.]