May you call or send marketing emails to a company?

Which rules apply to B2B marketing

Electronic direct marketing is regulated by the Act on Electronic Communications Services (917/2014), whose chapter 24 contains the provisions on direct marketing. When the recipient of a message is an identifiable person, the EU General Data Protection Regulation also applies. Electronic direct marketing means email, text messages and other electronic messages. Telemarketing where a person makes the call, and letters, are treated differently from electronic messages.

The supervisory authority is the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman, which has published guidance on frequently asked questions about direct marketing for both consumers and controllers.

Email to the company's general address

Marketing may be sent to an organisation's general email address, such as an info or customer service address, without prior consent. However, the recipient must be given an easy and free way to opt out, and the opt-out must be honoured without undue delay.

A message sent to a general address should still be targeted: say briefly why you are contacting this particular company, and direct the message to the right person by asking for their contact details. That way your next message can go straight to the decision-maker whose duties the offer relates to.

Employee's personal work email

Marketing may be sent to a work address of the form firstname.lastname without consent only if the offer is materially related to the recipient's job duties. For example, a finance director can be offered accounting software, but the same person may not be sent leisure products.

The sender must check the person's status in advance and be able to show afterwards that the processing was lawful. In practice, it is worth recording where the information about the person's role comes from and when it was checked. If the role is not related to the product offered, consent is needed.

Sole proprietorships are covered by the consumer rules

According to the Data Protection Ombudsman's guidance, sole traders and other natural persons are treated in electronic marketing like private individuals. Electronic direct marketing to a sole trader therefore generally requires prior consent.

The exception is your own customer: you may market your own similar products to them if the contact details were obtained from the customer themselves in connection with a sale. Consent must be an active act. A pre-ticked box or silence is not enough, and consent may not be requested by a separate email, because that in itself is marketing.

Sales calls: consent is not needed, information is

When the caller is a person, no prior consent is needed for telemarketing, but the recipient can prohibit marketing at any time, even in the middle of a call. Automated calling systems always require prior consent.

If contact details were obtained from somewhere other than the person themselves, for example from a purchased list, the caller must state in the first call the source of the data, the controller, and where the data protection information can be found. The Data Protection Ombudsman updated its guidance in this respect in December 2025.

Say who is calling and on behalf of which company
Say where you got the number
Say where the privacy notice can be found
Record the prohibition immediately if the recipient requests it

Purchased and self-collected lists

When personal data has been obtained from somewhere other than the person themselves, Article 14 of the GDPR requires that they be informed of the processing. Full information can be given, for example, in a privacy notice on a website, as long as the first contact states where it can be found.

The notice describes, among other things, the legal basis for processing, retention periods, data categories, recipients, possible transfers outside the EEA and the legitimate interest, if the processing is based on it. It also states whether automated decision-making or profiling is used.

Keep a record of the source and collection date of contact details
Note the role check in work emails
Maintain a shared block list for all channels
Remove outdated and prohibited contacts regularly

Right to object and the Robinson service

Everyone has the right to prohibit direct marketing on all channels, and the prohibition must be processed. The prohibition also applies to outsourced marketing. ASML's Robinson service is the opt-out register for private individuals' telephone and postal marketing, in which a prohibition is valid for three years at a time. It is not an opt-out list for business numbers, but if you call a sole trader's personal number, treat them like a consumer.

Following the rules is also good sales practice: a targeted message to the right role performs better than a mass mailing. Up-to-date sales signals, such as new companies and public tenders, are collected by Leads Radar. In unclear cases it is worth turning to a lawyer who knows data protection.

Frequently asked questions

May you send marketing emails to a company without permission?

Yes to a general address, as long as refusing is easy and free of charge. To an employee's own work address only if the offer is essentially related to their duties.

May you send email marketing to a sole trader?

As a rule only with consent, because sole traders are treated like private individuals. The exception is your own customer and similar products.

Is a permit needed for a sales call?

Not when the caller is a human. However, the recipient can prohibit marketing, and when information obtained from elsewhere is used, the source must be stated already in the first call.

Who supervises the rules on direct marketing?

Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman. The recipient should first contact the sender and notify the supervisory authority if the marketing continues or no reply is received within a month.

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Sources

The article is general information and does not replace the guidance of an authority, a lawyer or an adviser. Check up-to-date information from the sources.

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