UK direct marketing: UK GDPR, DPA 2018 and PECR 2003 - consent, soft opt-in, B2B/B2C distinctions and channel obligations

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Practice notes

This Practice Note

This Practice Note offers a high-level overview of the data protection framework relevant to direct marketing, particularly how such activities may give rise to compliance obligations under the Assimilated Regulation (EU) 2016/679, the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (PECR 2003), SI 2003/2426. It is aimed at commercial organisations in the UK, with further, scenario-specific guidance signposted. The main difficulty in direct marketing is determining what the UK GDPR and PECR 2003 permit and whether consent is needed, which will differ according to the activity undertaken and the audience targeted. This Practice Note reflects the following ICO guidance:

Direct marketing guidance
Direct marketing using live calls
Making live marketing calls about claims management services
Making live marketing calls about pension schemes
Direct marketing using electronic mail
Guide to PECR, cookies and similar technologies
Guide to PECR, what counts as consent?

This Practice Note focuses on how the UK GDPR interacts with PECR 2003. However, for all types of marketing, you should also consider other relevant regulations and codes, eg:

...

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Web page updated on 22/05/2026

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