30.03.2023

CSA Publishes 7th Edition of the Directive for Permissible Email Marketing

  • Practical assistance for the implementation of the legal requirements for the sending of commercial emails
  • Country-specific assessments by legal experts
  • Consideration of current topics – from GDPR to Schrems II

The CSA (Certified Senders Alliance) has published the 7th edition of its “Directive for Permissible Email Marketing”. Online at https://certified-senders.org/email-directive/, this now offers up-to-date knowledge and practical tips on implementing legal rules for sending commercial emails – in Germany and internationally. This directive goes beyond the CSA Criteria, which have formed the basis for CSA certification since 2004. Julia Janßen-Holldiek, Director CSA says: “With this Directive for Permissible Email Marketing, we invite readers to learn about the details of specific issues and practical recommendations for action.” The many authors contribute expertise in their field of law and respond to changing case law and legislation.

Prevent consequences due to unlawful sending

Once again, the authors are all lawyers who work in an advisory capacity for and in companies or associations and thus have both excellent knowledge and in-depth knowledge of the legal challenges in the email marketing industry.

The Directive answers fundamental questions such as “What is advertising?” and “How do I obtain legally correct consent and when can I waive it?”. The design of the legal notice is also explained in a legally understandable way and with concrete examples. The same applies to the topics of processing by service providers and tracking. A separate chapter is devoted to the legal situation in other countries within and outside the EU. Finally, possible sanctions for violations of applicable law are pointed out and thus entrepreneurial risks are classified realistically.

Significant changes compared to the previous version

The seventh version contains the following changes and new sections compared to the previous version from 2016:

  • The impact of the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018, which continues to pose challenges for the industry to this day.
  • The German Telecommunications Act (TKG) as well as the German Telemedia Act (TMG) and the German Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG) are also taken into account.
  • The Schrems II ruling of the European Court of Justice has created further uncertainties with regard to the exchange of data, especially with the USA, which have not been resolved to date.

The Directive classifies the relevant legal regulations in a comprehensible way and gives many useful suggestions for possible solutions with concrete examples.

CSA Publishes 7th Edition of the Directive for Permissible Email Marketing 1