Marketing Data Compliance is an area where a business's desire to reach customers often clashes with strict legal requirements. In Georgia, SMS advertising and Email Marketing (Direct Marketing) are regulated by the Law on Personal Data Protection. The main principle is simple: you have no right to send a promotional message to a person unless you have their prior, voluntary, and informed consent. Nevertheless, spam remains one of the most common violations, causing consumer irritation and fines for companies. The law also strictly protects children and prohibits direct marketing targeted at minors without parental consent.
Legislation also obliges companies to provide an effective mechanism for opting out (Opt-out). If a user cannot easily stop receiving ads (e.g., via an SMS Off code), this is automatically considered a violation of the law. Legal.ge allows you to find lawyers who will help your marketing team run campaigns legally, with high conversion rates and without fines.
What does the Marketing Data service cover?
The service focuses on legalizing promotional communication:
- Database Audit: Checking existing contact databases — where numbers were obtained from and whether consents are valid.
- SMS/Email Template Review: Revising promotional texts to ensure they include the sender's identity and an opt-out method.
- Consent Collection Strategy: Developing legal ways to grow the database (e.g., loyalty cards, website forms).
- Contracts with Providers: Including data protection guarantees in contracts with advertising agencies and SMS aggregators.
- Profiling and Targeting: Legal aspects of advertising based on user behavior analysis.
- Cookie Management: Legality of using marketing cookies (Facebook Pixel, Google Ads).
Common Real-World Scenarios
Marketers often make critical mistakes:
- Using Public Numbers: A company takes numbers from Facebook or classifieds sites and sends ads. This is illegal because the public nature of a number does not imply consent for ads.
- Buying Databases: A company buys a "payment terminal database." This is a gross violation because the data was collected for a different purpose.
- Ignoring Opt-outs: A user sent an SMS Off code, but ads keep coming. This technical failure does not absolve legal responsibility.
- Unclear Identification: The SMS sender is listed as "SALE" or "OFFER" instead of the company name, depriving the user of knowing who is processing their data.
Legal Framework: Consent and Opt-out
The Law of Georgia on Personal Data Protection establishes that consent for direct marketing must be given by active action (written, electronic). So-called "tacit consent" or a pre-ticked box is not valid. Also, the data processor is obliged to stop processing data no later than 7 working days after the user's request. Violation of the law results in a substantial fine for each violation.
Step-by-Step Service Process
- Analysis: Reviewing marketing channels (SMS, Email, Calls).
- Cleaning: Deleting illegally obtained or expired contacts from the database.
- Opt-in/Opt-out: Setting up the technical process with IT and marketing teams.
- Monitoring: Periodic checks to see if the opt-out mechanism is working.
Why choose a specialist on Legal.ge?
Illegal marketing damages brand reputation and causes consumer aggression. Lawyers on Legal.ge will help you build communication based on trust and respect. Legal marketing is more effective because you are speaking to an audience that actually wants to receive your news. Protect your business from the spam label and fines.
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