Brown Thomas broke rules on marketing emails
Retailer Brown Thomas has been convicted of five sample charges for breaching rules on the sending of unsolicited marketing communications.
Brown Thomas Arnotts Limited had pleaded guilty to the charges at Dublin Metropolitan District Court yesterday (8 September).
Noting the guilty plea, the court applied the Probation of Offenders Act to the company, ordering it to pay a charitable donation of €1,000 to local charity Little Flower Penny Dinners and €1,000 towards the legal fees of the Data Protection Commission (DPC), which took the case.
Unsubscribe function
Three sample charges related to the failure to provide the recipients with a valid address to opt out of receiving further marketing emails (an unsubscribe function).
Two further charges were linked to the sending of marketing communications without valid consent.
During proceedings, Judge Halpin was advised that a technical issue arose with the third-party software provider of Brown Thomas, which caused an intermittent inability to unsubscribe from marketing communications.
This resulted in a several complaints being submitted to the DPC, prompting its investigation.
According to the data watchdog, some complainants had contacted Brown Thomas separately to notify the company that they were withdrawing their consent to the receipt of further direct marketing communications.
The DPC said that, in these circumstances, the complainants continued to receive direct marketing materials, which further contravened the regulations.
2022 warning
The court noted that the company had engaged with the DPC, and had offered mitigation measures to amend its systems.
The DPC had previously issued a warning to Brown Thomas in March 2022 about unsolicited marketing communications.
Welcoming the outcome of the proceedings, the DPC said that it should serve as a reminder to all organisations engaged in any form of electronic marketing that non-compliance with the regulations could result in a criminal prosecution.