To retain new customers or sell additional products to existing customers, companies often use email newsletters to regularly inform their subscribers about new services, articles, offers, or other activities. Whether they (offensively) write about a new product or publish testimonials and “do-it-yourself” stories, it doesn’t matter – as long as a connection to the company can be established, it is considered advertising within the meaning of the Unfair Competition Act (UWG)How long is short .
The GDPR and the Unfair Competition Act (UWG) do not specify a standardized expiration period for consent once granted. This means that the france business fax list advertiser can generally rely on the consent granted as the legal basis, and the consumer is not at risk of having to regularly re-give consent to remain informed. If the consumer wishes to cancel their newsletter subscription, the law provides for the option of revocation (Article 7 (3) GDPR). This revocation cancels the consent granted with effect for the future. Therefore, advertising that has already taken place in the past remains lawful. So far, so clear.
The recent judgment of the Munich District Court concerned the following case:
The plaintiff had not used his account on the defendant’s website since leaving the company in December 2017, nor had he received any newsletters. Until that point, a breakdown of common website costs and the usual price range the plaintiff’s. Consent to receiving a newsletter unequivocally given.
After the plaintiff left the golf club, the defendant stopped sending him newsletters. It wasn’t until the end of 2021 that the plaintiff finally received another newsletter by email from the defendant with the subject line. “Christmas greetings and information about changes for the new year.” The plaintiff was surprised by this email and therefore fil a lawsuit against the golf club for an injunction. The Munich District Court has now ruled in favor of the plaintiff’s request for an injunction.
The Munich District Court justified its decision as follows:
The court assumes that the consent originally given to the sending of the newsletter ” […] was no longer valid due . The passage of time in view of the circumstances of the individual case. ”
The question of whether and, if so, albania business directory from when an originally granted consent loses its validity is. Controversial in case law and literature and has not yet beenconclusively clarified. According to the Munich District Court in its judgment.
At that time, the BGH rul that Section 7 of the Unfair Competition Act (UWG) did not provide for a time limit on consent once grant. Therefore, consent does not, in principle, automatically expire over time. In the specific case to be decid, of two years after termination of the contract. During this period, according to the BGH, a consumer who gave their consent as part of the conclusion of the contract could be assum to have a continu interest in receiving the emails.