Across the world, large retail stores and small businesses alike are shutting their doors. International flights and sporting events, conferences and concerts (and everything in between) are being cancelled. With all of the cancellations, postponements, and alternative arrangements that are required as a result of this global crisis, plus the special desire of all retail, travel, and other consumer-facing businesses to stay in touch with their customers, many organisations face the critical challenge of getting to grips with the legal rules that apply to those unsolicited communications and interactions.

Privacy and data protection laws everywhere regulate the ability of organisations to communicate with individuals for both service-related and promotional purposes. Direct marketing in particular is strictly regulated in many jurisdictions by a myriad of rules and exemptions that determine the conditions under which existing and prospective customers can be contacted for promotional purposes. In the EU, the e-Privacy Directive establishes specific rules for different channels of communication such as e-mail, SMS, and telephone calls that either require an opt-in or opt-out approach. The GDPR provides an absolute right to object to all types of direct marketing communications.