Electronic communication services meaning

This decision tree sets out a logical route for deciding whether you may undertake email marketing and, if so, who you can contact. It is just as applicable to text and SMS activity. Separate trees cover postal and live telephone direct marketing—see: Direct marketing decision tree—postal—data protection and Direct marketing decision tree—live telephone calls—data protection. Of all marketing channels, electronic marketing is the most demanding from a regulatory perspective. You must comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Privacy and Electronic Communication Regulations 2003 (PECR 2003). PECR 2003 applies different rules to different electronic marketing methods, depending on your audience and the goods/services being promoted. You must also meet the relevant UK GDPR obligations. For more guidance, see the following Practice Notes: Direct marketing compliance—Electronic mail How to handle personal data for direct marketing Direct marketing—UK GDPR and PECR 2003 interplay What is electronic mail direct marketing? Direct marketing is the communication, by any means, of...

This decision tree outlines a logical route for deciding whether you can carry out live telephone marketing and, if permitted, who you may contact. For guidance on other forms of marketing, see: Direct marketing decision tree—postal—data protection and Direct marketing decision tree—email and other electronic mail marketing—data protection. Direct marketing refers to the communication (by any means) of advertising or promotional material directed at specific individuals. Live or automated telephone calls? This decision tree is not intended for automated calls, as the rules governing automated calls are far more stringent than those for live calls. You must not make automated marketing calls to an individual unless they have given explicit consent to receive that precise type of call from you. General marketing consent, or consent applicable only to live calls, is insufficient—it must expressly include automated calls. Consequently, there is little value in a decision tree for automated marketing calls—this tree covers live marketing calls only. See Practice Note: Direct marketing compliance—Automated calls. Claims management services ...

EU financial services developments Commission seeks views on EU banking competitiveness The European Commission has opened a call for evidence to review overall competitiveness within the EU banking sector, examining structural hurdles to cross‑border operations and the degree of financial market integration more broadly. The exercise will assess whether the existing prudential, supervisory and crisis management frameworks remain fit for purpose in light of shifting market dynamics, ongoing digitalisation and worldwide competitive pressures. Submissions are requested by 11 March 2026. Under the Savings and Investments Union (SIU), the Commission intends in 2026 to release a communication on the Single Market in banking, featuring an appraisal of the sector’s competitiveness and related issues. The Commission notes that ten years of reforms have greatly reinforced financial stability, yet the EU banking landscape is still segmented along national borders, characterised by a highly complex regulatory framework and notably varying national implementation of certain rules and market structures...

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In this issue: Data protection Confidential information LexTalk® Information Law: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Data protection Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 The Act sets out arrangements for access to customer and business data; covers services that rely on information to determine and verify facts about individuals; addresses the recording, sharing, and maintenance of registers concerning apparatus in streets; provides for the keeping and upkeep of registers of births and deaths; regulates processing of data about identified or identifiable living persons; deals with privacy and electronic communications; establishes the Information Commission; specifies information standards for health and social care; provides for granting smart meter communication licences; enables disclosure of information to enhance public service delivery; makes provision for the retention of information by providers of internet services in connection with investigations into child deaths; and supports the provision of information for purposes connected to conducting independent research on online safety...

This Practice Note reviews the core definitions and terminology used to describe platform solutions, explaining the principal categories of platforms and the expressions commonly linked to them. It further sets out, for each of the principal EU legislative instruments, how the relevant definitions are framed to identify which entities fall within their scope and are therefore captured by those regimes. In-depth analysis of electronic data interchanges, or other platforms used to enable computer‑to‑computer exchanges of business or trading data and documentation, lies outside the remit of this Practice Note. This Practice Note does not address UK law; for information on legislation applicable to online platforms in the UK, see practice: Online platforms—introduction. For detail on the principal recent digital initiatives (Directive, Regulation and Code of Conduct) that online platforms ought to consider when trading, offering or providing services in the EU, or when they are established in the EU, see Practice Note: Key EU digital initiatives—summary. Online platforms In recent times, online platforms have experienced strong expansion in...

This Practice Note explores particular matters within Ofcom’s regulatory framework concerning voice over internet protocol (VoIP) technology, offering pragmatic guidance on addressing shifts in this field. VoIP now underpins widespread carriage of voice calls online. More and more, both individuals and businesses adopt it as a lower-cost substitute for traditional public switched telephone network (PSTN) services. The regulatory position In an early communication on the topic, Ofcom, the UK telecommunications regulator, identified three aims it regarded as central when shaping policy for VoIP services: fostering innovation in a technology-neutral manner ensuring consumers are well informed maximising the availability of access to emergency services Providers of communications services (including VoIP providers) must comply with Ofcom’s General Conditions of Entitlement (GCs). The GCs are updated from time to time; however, they underwent a major review and structural overhaul in 2018, with the stated purpose of updating them to reflect Ofcom’s current priorities and concerns, and making them simpler and clearer for industry...

The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (Consumer Contracts Regs 2013), SI 2013/3134 apply when you agree a retainer with a consumer client you have not met, commonly termed a distance contract. This Practice Note outlines: when the regulations are engaged in relation to distance contracts when your client has cancellation rights, and how to meet the regulatory requirements The Consumer Contracts Regs 2013 also extend to situations where you meet the client away from your office before entering into a retainer (often called an off‑premises contract). For further detail, see Practice Note: Off–premises contracts—law firms. The flowchart below will help you determine whether: the regulations apply at all and, if so which parts of the regulations you must follow, ie provisions for off‑premises or distance contracts Which clients do the regulations apply to? To benefit from cancellation rights under the regulations, your client must be an individual acting for...

Warning: This promotional material has not been signed off or otherwise approved by an authorised person as defined under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. If you rely on this promotion when undertaking any investment activity, you could potentially face a particularly substantial financial risk of losing the entirety of the capital or other assets you commit. This document is issued by [ insert the name of the person making the financial promotion, or on whose behalf the financial promotion is made ]. Anyone receiving this document who requires additional details, or wishes to raise any other enquiry concerning the subjects to which this communication pertains, should send a request to [ insert the postal or electronic address to which a recipient should send such requests. Also, if applicable, insert the country or territory in which the person making the financial promotion, or on whose behalf the financial promotion is made, is incorporated. Also, provide the registered address of the person making the financial promotion, or on whose...

[ On headed notepaper of company ][ insert shareholder name ][ insert shareholder address ] Dear [ [ shareholder name ] OR Sir/Madam ], Request to send or supply documents in electronic form and to making documents available on a website This letter is significant and requires your prompt attention. If you are unsure about its contents, or what steps to take, please seek your own financial advice from: your stockbroker your solicitor your accountant another independent adviser authorised under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 The purpose of this correspondence is for [ insert name of company ] PLC (the Company) to obtain your consent to receive [ documents and information OR [ insert details of specific document or information ] ] in electronic format, including through publication on a website. In addition to your individual consent to communications via website publication, the Company must either secure the authority of members by ordinary resolution, or rely...