The CSA introduces the latest edition of the Directive for Permissible Email Marketing

Its time has now come: The latest edition of the CSA Directive for Permissible Email Marketing has been published and is available as an online version on our website at: https://certified-senders.org/email-directive/

In this edition, we offer up-to-date knowledge and practical tips on how to implement the legal requirements for the sending of commercial emails in Germany, Europe and internationally. With these Directive for Permissible Email Marketing, we go beyond the CSA Criteria and would like to invite readers to learn more about specific topics and discover practical recommendations for action.

We explore the following topics:

• Permission
• Legal notice
• Processing by service providers
• Tracking and profiling
• What to bear in mind for email marketing in other countries
• Sanctions

Fundamental questions are answered here, such as: “What is advertising?” and “How do I get 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 important issues of processing by service providers and tracking. Another chapter describes 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.

This seventh edition of the Directive takes into account the latest developments in legislation and case law. The introduction of the GDPR in 2018 has posed major challenges for the industry and still does. Thus, there is still uncertainty regarding the interpretation and application of certain provisions of this framework law. Subsequently, further national laws were supplemented and adapted to the Regulation. For Germany, examples include the Telecommunications Act (TKG), the Telemedia Act (TMG) and the German Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG). In addition, important reforms, such as the implementation of the e-Privacy Directive, are still pending. 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.

As authors, we were once again able to include 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 challenges faced by those responsible in the email marketing industry. In the current version of the Diretive, we are limiting ourselves for the first time to a purely digital version in order to be able to constantly update or add to it and to protect the environment.