Last week we were guests of e-Circle, a German e-mail marketing agency, for one of their seminars at the Institute of
Directors. They put up a good roster of speakers, including their MD Boris Berten talking about how to get the most out of your mailing lists, and David Pool explaining “the seven habits of highly effective digital marketers”.
All in all plenty for us to think about, since we provide the content for many a newsletter. And one of the things that made me sit up was Stephen Groom’s comparison of EU and UK e-mail privacy laws.
Is this one of the areas where EU law is enforced strictly by a bunch of busybodies when it’s implemented in the UK? Do e-mail marketers on the continent have it easy compared to us?
Actually no. Only one successful prosecution has ever been brought against UK e-mailers who’ve failed to get their opt-ins and opt-outs right. The Czechs have brought two successful cases, and France five (awarding over £200,000 damages in the process). Italy has brought fifty, and the Germans, bless ‘em, have brought at least five hundred successful prosecutions.
Here’s the rest of the table, with thanks to Stephen and the folk at www.marketinglaw.co.uk. Figures were correct as at February 2006.
UK 1
Austria 500
Belgium 5
Czech R 2
Denmark 7
France 5
Germany 500
Greece 77
Holland 15
Ireland 1
Italy 50
Malta 0
Portugal 0
Slovakia 15
Spain 50
Sweden 2
David Harbottle
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