Before you send a campaign message: İYS and commercial messages

EU: consent for email and SMS marketing

• Direct marketing by electronic mail (which includes SMS), fax or automated calling systems is allowed only to subscribers who have given prior consent (ePrivacy Directive, Art. 13(1)).[1]
• Exception for existing customers: a business that obtained a customer’s email address in the context of a sale may use it to market its own similar products or services, provided the customer is clearly offered a free and easy way to object when the address is collected and in every later message (Art. 13(2)).[1]
• Marketing emails that disguise or conceal the sender’s identity, or that have no valid address for opting out, are prohibited (Art. 13(4)).[1]
• These consent rules protect individual subscribers; protection for business recipients is left to each member state (Art. 13(5)), so B2B rules differ by country.[1]
• Under the GDPR, people can object at any time to the use of their personal data for direct marketing; after that, it may no longer be used for that purpose (Art. 21(2)–(3)).[2]

Consent and İYS registration

• Commercial electronic messages may be sent only with the recipient’s prior consent (Law No. 6563, Art. 6/1).[3]
• Consents not collected through İYS must be registered in İYS by the sender within three business days; consents that are not registered are invalid (Regulation Art. 7/11-12).[4]
• If the recipient is a merchant or tradesperson, prior consent is not required; but before sending, their addresses must be registered in İYS and checked there for an opt-out (Regulation Art. 6/6).[4]

Opt-out and message content

• After receiving an opt-out request, the sender must stop sending messages within three business days (Law Art. 8/3).[3]
• The opt-out option must be offered easily and free of charge through the same channel the message was sent on, and it must appear in every message (Regulation Art. 9/3-4).[4]
• Each message must identify the sender and include reachable contact details (Regulation Art. 8).[4]

Handling İYS on someone else’s behalf

• Providing integrator services to senders for consent and opt-out records requires authorization from the Turkish Ministry of Trade; it cannot be offered without it (Communiqué Art. 4/1).[5]
• Our practice noteKeep service messages such as appointment reminders and order updates separate from campaign messages; adding a promotion to a reminder can turn it into a commercial message.
• Our practice noteTurkish legislation has no explicit provision on whether WhatsApp messages fall under İYS; in the flows we set up, we collect consent and keep a record as a precaution.

Where does this come up?

• Auto-replying to WhatsApp messages with AI
• Automating appointment reminder messages