UK Law and Practice Contributed by: Huw Morris, Dominic Bray, Nick Swimer and Rebecca Coleman, Lee & Thompson LLP
• individuals registered with the Telephone Prefer - ence Service (TPS); or • entities listed on the Corporate Telephone Prefer - ence Service (Corporate TPS). Only authorised firms or trustees may make pension scheme-related calls if strict criteria are met, such as prior consent. Automated Calls Automated calls that play a recorded message can only be made if the individual has specifically con - sented to receiving automated calls. For both live and automated calls, the caller’s number must be displayed to the person being called. The caller must also provide their identity and offer an address or a freephone number for contact purposes if requested. Inbound Telemarketing If personal data is collected during an inbound call, businesses must inform individuals of how their data will be used. Violating these rules can lead to fines by the ICO (see 6.1 Email Marketing ). This applies particularly to unauthorised automated calls or calling individuals who have opted out via the TPS. In January 2024, the ICO fined two home improvement companies GBP250,000 (combined) for calling individuals regis - tered with the TPS and concealing their identity. 6.3 Text Messaging Since the term “electronic mail” is defined broadly in PECR and encompasses various forms of electronic communication, including text/SMS messaging, the information outlined in 6.1 Email Marketing applies equally to text/SMS messaging. 6.4 Targeted/Interest-Based Advertising Targeted or interest-based advertising, particularly through the use of consumer data, is regulated by the UK GDPR and PECR. Advertisers must be transparent about the data they collect and how it is used, and must give consumers the option to opt-out of targeted ads. The use of cookies and tracking technologies
requires explicit consent. Failure to comply with these requirements can lead to ICO enforcement action. The industry currently relies heavily on the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF) v2.2 – a voluntary tool seeking to facilitate compliance with the GDPR and PECR, par - ticularly by allowing user consents to be passed down the chain via the publishers’ consent management platforms to the various vendors and intermediaries engaged in ad serving, measurement, targeting and media supply. The IAB was itself deemed to be in breach of the GDPR by the Belgian Data Protection Authority (APD) in 2022. The case was referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union and sent back to the Belgian Court of Appeal, which determined that TC Strings are personal data when they can be connected (directly or indirectly) to identifiers (eg, via IP address or other - wise) in such a way as to allow identification, and that IAB Europe is a joint controller in relation to the crea - tion and use of TC Strings by publishers and vendors. Crucially, the Court rejected the APD’s view that IAB Europe is a joint controller for all downstream pro - cessing in the Real-Time Bidding (OpenRTB) ecosys - tem (eg, when third parties use the TC String or pref - erences for targeted advertising). It determined that, for processing operations entirely contained within the OpenRTB protocol, IAB Europe has insufficient control (over purposes/means) to be deemed a joint control - ler. The result is that the TCF continues to serve as the industry’s compliance framework. The ICO is consulting on a risk-based approach to enforcing PECR in relation to online advertising, par - ticularly the use of low-risk advertising cookies (which do not benefit from any of the current exemptions to Regulation 6) as a potential driver of sector innovation and economic growth. 6.5 Marketing to Children Special rules apply to the collection and use of per - sonal information from children, primarily under the UK GDPR and PECR. These regulations require busi - nesses to obtain parental consent when collecting data from children under the age of 13. Information must be processed transparently, using age-appropri -
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