What does PECR say about business emails?
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The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) in the UK create a distinction between corporate and individual subscribers.
Corporate subscribers: Companies, partnerships, government bodies, and other non-individual entities. You can send unsolicited marketing email to corporate subscriber addresses without prior consent. Examples: info@company.co.uk, sales@company.co.uk.
Individual subscribers: Sole traders, individuals, and partnerships (in Scotland). These require consent before receiving marketing email, similar to B2C rules.
The critical question: is the email address clearly corporate (enquiries@business.com) or does it identify an individual (john.smith@business.com)? Named email addresses at businesses are still considered individual subscribers under PECR.
Even where PECR permits unsolicited email, senders must still:
- Identify themselves
- Provide valid contact details
- Offer opt-out mechanisms
- Comply with GDPR for any personal data processing
PECR permissions don't override mailbox provider filtering. Legal email can still land in spam.
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