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From ICO's guide for electronic mail marketing under PECR:

... you must not send electronic mail marketing to individuals, unless:

  • they have specifically consented to electronic mail from you; or
  • they are an existing customer who bought (or negotiated to buy) a similar product or service from you in the past, and you gave them a simple way to opt out both when you first collected their details and in every message you have sent.

Doesn't this clip entrepreneurs' wings?

It looks like the effect of this regulation is to prohibit entrepreneurs from marketing their service or product via cold emailing (or any other types of electronic messages, for that matter).

I find this greatly confusing. How can a new business (especially a tech business) find its first few customers if not by cold texting in some way or another? Does PECR force new businesses to market themselves strictly in the public domain, e.g. on social media?

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    Does this answer your question? GDPR Disclaimer On Cold Call Emails
    – Trish
    Commented Oct 2, 2022 at 8:37
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    It's illegal to do stuff. So don't do stuff. You don't need to do illegal stuff to be successful: you can pay for ads or start via a marketplace.
    – Trish
    Commented Oct 2, 2022 at 8:39

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How can a new business (especially a tech business) find its first few customers if not by cold texting in some way or another?

Don’t know, don’t care. This is Law SE, not Marketing SE.

Does PECR force new businesses to market themselves strictly in the public domain, e.g. on social media?

Not at all. It prevents spam and is in line with similar laws in most of the World.

You can call or SMS people (unless they are in a do not call list), use conventional marketing like radio, TV, direct post but you cannot send spam email.

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  • Though calling and SMS are illegal in other jurisdictions, like Germany.
    – Trish
    Commented Oct 2, 2022 at 9:33
  • Thanks for your answer, Dale. There's still one case that would be worth clarifying. If a business finds your personal email online (because you made it public), and it sends a targeted email to you, i.e. one which begins with "Hello Paul", is that still illegal?
    – Paul Razvan Berg
    Commented Oct 2, 2022 at 12:38
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    @PaulRazvanBerg yes
    – Dale M ♦
    Commented Oct 2, 2022 at 12:43
  • Thanks for confirming. So that means that this law is basically violated every day, at least in the experience that I have with my email account. A fact that has perhaps contributed to my confusion on the topic.
    – Paul Razvan Berg
    Commented Oct 2, 2022 at 13:02

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