Q: Can I send unsolicited marketing emails without consent? I have read a quote in a blog post which suggests that email marketing constitutes a Legitimate Interest for business?
A: Although it is sometimes possible to send marketing copy on the grounds of a legitimate interest, you probably shouldn’t count on it.
Legitimate Interest for marketing requires a strict balancing of interests between data controller and data subject, the origins of the data, the expectations of the data subject, and many other balancing factors.
For this reason, it might be better to begin from a starting point that “No”, it is not possible to advertise without consent. And then attempt to disprove that assumption with self-assessment and reporting.
If you wish to assess your own claims to a Legitimate Interest for processing, then you should download the eBoss Legitimate Interest Self-Assessment pack.
It contains template forms and a workflow, which help you to assess your own grounds for processing. The resulting report will be invaluable record of your own compliance process.
References:
Recital 47, GDPR
Additional Information:
A legitimate interest must be shown to balance the expectations, interests, and power dynamic in the relationship between data subject and the controller.