GermanyDigitale-Dienste-Gesetz (Digital Services Act Implementation Act), Commercial Communications and Disguised Email Sender
DDG § 6 Abs. 1 und 2, § 33 Abs. 1
In force since .
A commercial messages rule binding private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Disclosure, Prohibition
As of .
What it requires
- Make commercial communications that are digital services, or parts of digital services, clearly recognizable as such, and make the person on whose behalf they are made clearly identifiable (section 6(1) numbers 1 and 2).
- Make promotional offers such as price reductions, extras and gifts clearly recognizable as such, and state the conditions for claiming them clearly and unambiguously and keep them easily accessible (section 6(1) number 3).
- Make prize competitions and games with promotional character clearly recognizable as such, and state the participation conditions clearly and unambiguously and keep them easily accessible (section 6(1) number 4).
- When you send a commercial communication by email, do not disguise or conceal the sender or the commercial character of the message in the header and subject lines: designing them deliberately so that the recipient gets no or misleading information about the sender's actual identity or the commercial character before reading the content is disguise or concealment (section 6(2)).
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureNo
Penalty structure
Section 33(1) and (6) number 1(a): up to 300,000 euros for deliberately disguising or concealing the sender or the commercial character of an email contrary to section 6(2), first sentence.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- EUR
- Fixed cap
- 300,000
What this law does
Section 6(1) requires providers of digital services, for commercial communications that are digital services or parts of digital services, to observe at least that commercial communications are clearly recognizable as such and that the person on whose behalf they are made is clearly identifiable. It also requires promotional offers such as price reductions, extras and gifts to be clearly recognizable, with the conditions for claiming them easily accessible and clearly and unambiguously stated.
Prize competitions or games with promotional character must likewise be clearly recognizable, with the participation conditions easily accessible and clearly and unambiguously stated. Section 6(2) provides that where commercial communications are sent by electronic mail, neither the sender nor the commercial character of the message may be disguised or concealed in the header and subject lines.
Disguise or concealment exists where the header or subject line is deliberately designed so that the recipient gets no or misleading information about the sender's actual identity or the commercial character of the message before reading the content. Section 6(5) leaves the provisions of the Gesetz gegen den unlauteren Wettbewerb and the Preisangabenverordnung unaffected.
Section 33(1) makes it an administrative offence to disguise or conceal, deliberately, the sender or the commercial character of the message contrary to section 6(2), first sentence. Section 33(6) number 1(a) sets a maximum fine of 300,000 euros for that offence. The Act took effect on .
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app sends automated outreach.