November 19, 2018

The ICO explains that the Data Protection Act 2018 requires the Commissioner to produce a code of practice that provides practical guidance and promotes good practice in regard to direct marketing.

The ICO has previously published detailed direct marketing guidance. The new code will build on that guidance and address the aspects of the new legislation relevant to direct marketing, such as transparency and lawful bases for processing, as well as covering the rules on electronic marketing (for example emails, text messages, phone calls) under the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (PECR).

The European Union is in the process of replacing the current e-privacy law (and therefore the PECR) with a new ePrivacy Regulation. However, the ICO reminds readers that the new Regulation is yet to be agreed and there is no certainty about what the final rules will be. Because of this the ICO intends for the direct marketing code to only cover the current PECR rules until the new ePrivacy Regulation is agreed. Once the Regulation is finalised and the UK position in relation to it is clear, the ICO will produce an updated version of the code, which takes this into account as appropriate.

The call for views is the first stage of the consultation process. The Commissioner is seeking input from relevant stakeholders, including trade associations, data subjects and those representing the interests of data subjects. The ICO says that it will use the responses it receives to inform its work in developing the code. The call for views closes on 24 December 2018. To access the call for views, click here.