In the Irish Data Protection Commissioner’s Eighteenth Annual Report (2006), issued in February of this year, the Commissioner has included general guidance notes on the use of email for direct marketing purposes within the context of existing legislation, and also a time frame for first contact when using electronic mail for direct marketing purposes to “individual subscribers”. By this I mean a ‘individual subscriber address’ vs. a ‘business address’. An article by solicitor Colm Kelly (Part I and Part II) in 2003 provided explanation regarding the difference between these two types of email addresses.

This time frame is new. The Commissioner has now stated 12 months for the window of first contact with regards to “individual subscribers”: “The Data Protection Commissioner considers that, in order to comply with the provision of the Data Protection Acts concerning the retention of data for no longer than is necessary, and in line with best practice, a ‘current customer relationship’ exists only where a business and a customer have engaged in a business transaction within the previous twelve months. ”

In general:

* You need to have obtained an individual subscriber’s permission within the last 12 months for the first contact.

* You need to have an obtained individual subscriber’s personal contact details in the course of a sale or service within the last 12 months for first contact – if they haven’t opted-out before then. When obtaining the individual’s details in the course of a sale, the individual must be aware of the fact that they will be used for direct marketing and given the opportunity to opt-out.

* If 12 months pass between the last opt-in marketing email (and they haven’t opted-out) and the next one you plan to send – you need to get permission again.

While this 12 months relates to holding data on someone, it impacts on email marketing to “individual subscribers”. I think this time frame is generous – it doesn’t really make sense to wait a year before embarking on an email relationship with a customer or prospect. That’s like ten years in the ‘real world’! I would consider six months between initial contact and and email contact to be a loooong time to expect the recipient to remember the relationship and why you’re contacting them.

The entire 2006 Report can be downloaded from the Data Protection Commissioner’s website. (The specific reference to the above is on page 57 – 59.)

Posted on July 31st, 2007 under HTML email newsletters, email legislation .
RSS Feed | Leave a response | Trackback | Add to del.icio.us | Add to Digg