Decide when customer email marketing can rely on the Article 13 soft opt-in exception instead of fresh prior consent.
Use this checklist to test the existing customer relationship, similar-product limit, opt-out mechanics, sender identity, suppression evidence, GDPR overlap, and Member State implementation caveats.
Structured answer sets in this page tree.
Cited legal and guidance references.
Article 13 of the ePrivacy Directive starts from prior consent for automated calls, fax, and electronic mail direct marketing. The soft opt-in exception is narrower: the same sender may use customer electronic contact details collected during a sale of a product or service to market its own similar products or services, but only if the customer had a clear, distinct, free, and easy chance to object when the details were collected and in every later message.
Approve a campaign only when every condition is true. Treat one failed condition as a move back to the Article 13(1) prior-consent rule or to the applicable national rule for that channel.
The exception is tied to electronic contact details obtained from customers in the context of a sale. It should not be used for purchased lists, scraped contacts, prospect leads with no qualifying sale context, partner lists, or contacts collected by a different legal person.
Soft opt-in is not a one-time list label. It is a continuing control: the collection notice, CRM consent or preference state, email template, unsubscribe endpoint, suppression process, and campaign selection rules must all match the Article 13 conditions.
The objection path should be visible in the collection journey and in each email. Do not require login, payment, a sales call, or a complex preference flow before stopping the marketing use covered by the objection.
Keep campaign evidence at the audience-rule level, not only at the template level. A compliant template does not prove that each recipient met the customer-sale and similar-product conditions.
Suppression records should prove both sides of the control: who was eligible for soft opt-in and who was removed because they objected, unsubscribed, bounced into a suppression rule, or was excluded by a country-specific rule.
Soft opt-in under ePrivacy does not answer every GDPR question. The ePrivacy Directive particularises and complements GDPR for electronic communications, and EDPB guidance recognises that some processing can fall within both instruments. Teams still need a GDPR lawful basis, transparency, data minimisation, retention, and rights handling for the personal-data processing around the campaign.
Article 13 leaves several points to Member State implementation, including the approach for direct-marketing cases outside Article 13(1) and 13(2), and protection of subscribers other than natural persons. Record the country rule check instead of assuming that one EU-wide marketing playbook covers every recipient or channel.
Use this final check before enabling an audience, lifecycle automation, newsletter segment, win-back campaign, or sales-assisted email sequence that relies on soft opt-in.
If the answer is uncertain, pause the send for the affected segment rather than diluting the rule across the full list.
Not from Article 13(2) alone. The exception is tied to customer electronic contact details obtained in the context of the sale of a product or service, so prospect lead capture needs another source-linked route before marketing email is sent.
Every message must give the customer a clear, distinct, free, and easy opportunity to object if the customer has not already refused the use. A working unsubscribe link is the usual way to evidence that requirement for email.
Do not assume so. Article 13(2) refers to the same natural or legal person using the contact details it obtained, so group-company, reseller, affiliate, and partner campaigns need separate legal review and should not be marked soft opt-in by default.
Sorena can help convert the Article 13 conditions on this page into audience rules, collection notices, unsubscribe tests, suppression evidence, and country-check records for EU campaigns.
Ask source-linked questions about Article 13, soft opt-in eligibility, opt-outs, sender identity, and evidence records using the cited sources on this page.
Review your customer email marketing workflow, suppression records, source gaps, and national-law caveats with Sorena.
"when they are collected"
"own similar products or services"
"the same natural or legal person"
"free of charge and in an easy manner"
"choice between these options"
"subscribers or users"
"demonstrate that valid consent was obtained"
"particularise and complement"
"existing customer relationship"