Marketing by SMS, fax or e-mail
To market by SMS or e-mail you will generally need prior permission from individuals, but not businesses.
However, businesses can opt-out of marketing faxes (not email and texts) by telling you directly that they do not wish to be contacted or register their fax number with the Fax Preference Service to opt out of all unsolicited faxes.
If the individual is an existing customer, you may be able to market similar products to them without prior express consent. This rule is called the "soft opt-in" and applies where:
You have obtained the individual's details as part of the sale, or negotiations for the sale, of a product or service to that person.
The marketing message contains only a similar product or service.
The customer has a simple means of refusing unsolicited marketing at the time their details are collected and if they do not opt-out, they are given a simple way of doing so in every future message.
If you are carrying out marketing by fax, check your database against the Fax Preference Service regularly. This is a legal requirement under the Privacy Regulations.
If you want to distribute e-mail marketing, it is good practice (and consistent with the preference services of other means of marketing) to regularly check your databases against the E-mail Preference Service. However, this is not a legal requirement