Emailing companies: PECR rules for B2B marketing

Under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), you can generally send marketing email or text to a company without its prior consent, but not to sole traders and some partnerships. Every marketing message must identify you and offer an opt-out.

Corporate subscribers

The ICO says you can email or text a corporate body, which means a limited company, a Scottish partnership, a limited liability partnership or a government body. Prior consent is not required. You must still follow the identity and opt-out rules below.

Sole traders and some partnerships

These are treated as individual subscribers. To send them marketing email or text you need their consent, or you must fit the narrow "soft opt-in" exception.

Soft opt-in does not cover cold B2B outreach

Soft opt-in only applies where someone has already bought from you (or negotiated to), you are marketing similar products, and you gave them a clear chance to opt out when you collected their details and in every message. The ICO is clear it does not extend to prospective customers or new contacts, such as people from bought-in lists. A cold email to a sole trader you found in a database does not qualify.

What every marketing email must do

• Not disguise or conceal who you are.
• Include a valid address the recipient can use to opt out or unsubscribe.
• Be honoured quickly: keep a "do not contact" list and screen against it.

Why this matters for new companies

A newly formed limited company is a corporate subscriber. A new sole trader does not appear on the Companies House register at all, but a company may still be run by a single named director, and an address that contains a person's name is still personal data under UK GDPR. See UK GDPR and directors.

Official guidance

• ICO: electronic mail marketing
• ICO: business-to-business marketing

General guidance, not legal advice. Last reviewed October 2026.