“I want to approach companies by cold email”
Can I approach companies by cold email
Answer
No
Under the wording of § 4(6) of Act 22/2004 Coll., no: you may not deliver commercial communication by electronic mail unless the recipient requested it in advance, and the provision does not distinguish whether the recipient is a company. § 116(15) of Act 452/2021 Coll. does not require prior consent for direct marketing addressed to the published contact details of a sole trader or a legal person, but how the two provisions relate to each other does not follow from their wording.
Not lawful in this form. The page names what you can do instead.
This is a question that is often answered on the basis of only one of two acts. The belief that companies may be written to without consent is repeated even in the sales pitches of bulk outreach tools, and one act does support it: § 116(15) of Act 452/2021 Coll. does not require prior consent where direct marketing is addressed to the published contact details of a sole trader or a legal person.
The other act has no such exception. § 4(6) of Act 22/2004 Coll. on electronic commerce prohibits delivering commercial communication by electronic mail unless the recipient requested it in advance, and under § 2(c) of Act 22/2004 Coll. a recipient of services is a natural person as well as a legal person. The Slovak Trade Inspection may impose a fine for a breach under § 7a(1) of Act 22/2004 Coll.
What will not save the situation
- 01
The exception for published contacts is in only one of the two acts
§ 116(15) of Act 452/2021 Coll. does not require prior consent under § 116(3) of Act 452/2021 Coll. for the published contact details of a sole trader or a legal person, and the second sentence of the same paragraph requires that the recipient be able to refuse such use of the contact details simply and free of charge with every message delivered. § 4(6) of Act 22/2004 Coll. has no exception for companies.
- 02
A published address is not a request
§ 4(6) of Act 22/2004 Coll. asks whether the recipient requested the information in advance and says nothing about published contact details. Publishing an address on a website or in a register is a condition of the exception in § 116(15) of Act 452/2021 Coll., not a request for commercial communication.
- 03
Not even the first email is free
§ 116(4) prohibits using electronic mail to obtain prior consent. You therefore cannot proceed by making the first message nothing more than a question about whether you may send an offer.
Where we will not answer for you
How § 116(15) of Act 452/2021 Coll. and § 4(6) of Act 22/2004 Coll. relate to each other does not follow from their wording: the first does not require consent for published company contacts, the second prohibits unsolicited commercial communication by electronic mail and has no exception for companies. Nor is it clear from § 116 of Act 452/2021 Coll. whether a general address of the info@ type counts among the published contact details of a subscriber or user, or how the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Postal Services and the Slovak Trade Inspection treat such cases in practice. This page therefore states what both provisions contain; assessing a particular campaign is a legal service.
What you can do instead
Contact through a network where the other side opens the channel
Where the other side confirms the connection, the communication does not begin by sending a presentation of goods or services directly to a subscriber under § 116(2). The assessment depends on how the particular platform delivers the message, so this is not an automatic solution for every channel.
A phone call where the provision does not prohibit it
§ 116(3) covers automated calling and communication systems without human intervention, not a call dialled by a person. § 116(8) applies separately, however: for direct marketing purposes, calling a number listed in a directory, or a number whose holder objected to such calls, is prohibited.
Formats where the prospect comes to you
Expert content, case studies and search work by having the other side open the contact. Consent then arises before the approach, which satisfies the condition in § 116(3) without any risk on your part.
What the statute says
Wording taken from the official register. Every excerpt is machine-compared against the statutes in our database, so it cannot drift from what the law actually says.
Priamym marketingom na účely tohto zákona sa rozumie akákoľvek forma prezentácie tovarov alebo služieb v písomnej forme alebo ústnej forme, zaslaná alebo prezentovaná prostredníctvom verejne dostupnej služby priamo jednému alebo viacerým účastníkom alebo užívateľom, vrátane získavania informácií o tovaroch a službách od účastníka alebo užívateľa.Na účely priameho marketingu je dovolené používanie automatických volacích a komunikačných systémov bez ľudského zásahu, telefaxu, elektronickej pošty, služby SMS a služby MMS voči účastníkovi alebo užívateľovi len s jeho predchádzajúcim preukázateľným súhlasom získaným pred kontaktovaním účastníka alebo užívateľa.Na účely priameho marketingu je zakázané akékoľvek volanie, ak účastník alebo užívateľ uviedol telefónne číslo v zozname alebo, ak účastník alebo užívateľ namietal takéto volania osobe, v prospech ktorej sa vykonáva priamy marketing.Predchádzajúci súhlas príjemcu elektronickej pošty, služby SMS alebo služby MMS podľa odseku 3 sa nevyžaduje, ak ide o priamy marketing vlastných podobných tovarov a služieb osoby, a ak jeho kontaktné údaje na doručenie elektronickej pošty, služby SMS alebo služby MMS tá istá osoba získala v súvislosti s predajom tovaru alebo služieb v súlade s týmto zákonom alebo s osobitným predpisom, alebo ak ide o priamy marketing adresovaný na zverejnené kontaktné údaje účastníka alebo užívateľa, ktorý je fyzickou osobou podnikateľom alebo právnickou osobou. Príjemcovi elektronickej pošty, služby SMS alebo služby MMS sa musí poskytnúť možnosť jednoducho a bezplatne kedykoľvek odmietnuť také používanie kontaktných údajov v čase ich získavania a pri každej doručenej správe ak také použitie predtým neodmietol.Poskytovateľ služieb nesmie doručovať informácie komerčnej komunikácie elektronickou poštou, ak si ich príjemca služby vopred nevyžiadal.príjemcom služieb informačnej spoločnosti (ďalej len „príjemca služieb“) fyzická osoba alebo právnická osoba, ktorá využíva služby informačnej spoločnosti, najmä vyhľadáva alebo poskytuje informácieSlovenská obchodná inšpekcia môže uložiť za porušenie povinnosti podľa tohto zákona poskytovateľovi služieb pokutu vo výške od 50 eur do 1 % jeho obratu za predchádzajúce účtovné obdobie, najviac 50 000 eur.Frequently asked questions
Does the same really apply to a company as to a consumer?
Under Act 452/2021 Coll., not entirely: § 116(15) of Act 452/2021 Coll. does not require prior consent for direct marketing addressed to the published contact details of a sole trader or a legal person. Under Act 22/2004 Coll., yes: § 4(6) of Act 22/2004 Coll. speaks of the recipient of a service, and under § 2(c) of Act 22/2004 Coll. a recipient of services is a natural person as well as a legal person.
I found the contact in the commercial register, that is a public source.
For § 116(15) of Act 452/2021 Coll. what matters is whether these are the published contact details of a sole trader or a legal person. § 4(6) of Act 22/2004 Coll., however, asks whether the recipient requested the information in advance, and public availability of the address does not appear in its wording.
Can I call instead of sending an email?
§ 116(3) covers automated calling and communication systems without human intervention. A call dialled by a person does not fall within that list, but § 116(8) prohibits calling a number listed in a directory and a number whose holder objected to such calls.