GDPR and Marketing

GDPR is coming and we all need to be aware of it, it is an EU directive and Brexit wont affect the UK making this legislation.

It is primarily aimed at an individuals Data used for marketing purposes, i.e. PPI and RTA nuisance calls. It will state a company cannot contact someone without first having received a written consent that this information is wanted. (mainly B2C type telesales and emails). Also, an individual can request that they be "forgotten" and have access to all information pertaining to them. In essence this does not affect anybody trading in a B2B environment as they are not dealing with an individual but in effect a role, little confusing, but if you are dealing with John Smith as a person you will need a written consent that he is happy for you to contact him, if you are dealing with John Smith the Procurement Manager you can offer products you know he is buying for this role, with the normal opt out rules applying for emails.

HOWEVER, if a company is a sole trader or partnership then the B2C rules will then apply, not a problem for a Ltd or PLC trader, but may be, if they have a sole trader working as a sub-contractor and you want to ring or email them to see what other work they might have on, (speaking about a specific contract that they are working on which you are involved with is acceptable).

Any information you have on an individual working at a company that is not specific to the role they are doing is also subject to the same GDPR rules. They will be entitled to request said information and can ask for it to be deleted. Think if you have made a note of background, hobbies, family members, etc. all this information will fall under this ruling.

The rules also show that marketing must be only for products that can be proven to be required by the Role specifically, meaning you can try and supply an engineer tools but possibly not a day out. From what we are seeing the final legislation is still fluid but will definitely be in force by May 2018.

Please note this is our interperatation and is up to each individual company to ensure they are meeting all regulations.