EE has become the latest communications company to fall foul of the marketing rules concerning unsolicited messages. The mobile network and internet service provider sent unsolicited marketing messages to its customers in February/March 2018.
The ICO investigated and discovered that EE, which is a division of BT, breached section 55 of the Data Protection Act 1998. The penalty is in relation to a serious contravention of Regulation 22 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003.
The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) sit alongside the Data Protection Act and the GDPR. They provide privacy rights in relation to electronic communications by companies or organisations.
Whilst there are some robust rules covering the advertising or sales orientated phone calls, emails, texts and faxes that you will want to make, PECR doesn’t stop you marketing your products or services, provided you do so in a professional and reasonable manner and follow the regulations.
We have steered and provided advice to hundreds of clients concerning their marketing campaigns. Fortunately for EE the breach occurred under the former Data Protection law, limiting the ICO’s ability to make a more punitive fine now available under the current regulations.
Contact us if you need any guidance in this increasingly sensitive area of data protection.
info@staycompliant.training or call 01274 562630.
