In an article from November last year we questioned why the Data (Use and Access) Bill had not revived proposals to allow charities to send marketing emails and text messages to existing supporters, in the same way that profit-making companies can.
However, in Government amendments to the Bill, published on 14 January, a new clause is proposed to rectify this.
To recap, regulation 22 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 says that a person may not send an unsolicited direct electronic marketing communication to an individual "subscriber" (which generally means sending to someone's personal email address or mobile phone number) unless the recipient consents to receive it. The exception is where the sender collected the contact details of the recipient in the course of the sale, or negotiations for the sale, of a product or service – in those cases they can send direct marketing, as long as an opt-out is offered, and as long as the marketing is in respect of similar products and services only.
Because the exception applies in the context of the "sale" of products or services, those organisations – like charities - whose core business doesn't involve selling, have not been able to avail themselves of it. However, an amendment to the Data (Use and Access) Bill tabled by Lord Vallance, Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation, will extend the exception where the marketing is by a charity and where "the sole purpose of the direct marketing is to further one or more of the charity’s charitable purposes" and "where the charity obtained the contact details of the recipient of the electronic mail in the course of the recipient…expressing an interest in one or more of the purposes that were the charity’s charitable purposes at that time; or…offering or providing support to further one or more of those purposes".
The amendment is limited to charities, so doesn't extend to other non-profits, possibly because it is easy to define and categorise a charity, but less so a non-profit.
Although the Bill has some way still to go before it is enacted, it seems highly likely, given that this is a Government amendment, and given that the opposition, when in government, had proposed something similar, that it will soon become law.