In brief
- Basic rule: marketing by email requires prior, free, specific and informed consent (Art. XII.13(1) of the Code of Economic Law).
- Exception for businesses: without consent you may write to impersonal addresses of legal entities (info@, contact@, sales@) with an offer intended for legal entities (Royal Decree of 4 April 2003, Art. 1, 2°).
- No exception for personal addresses (firstname.lastname@) or for the self-employed: consent is required.
- This article is general information, not legal advice. Statutory texts retrieved on 4 November 2026.
The basic rule: Article XII.13 of the Code of Economic Law
Belgium’s Code of Economic Law (WER/CDE) regulates advertising by electronic mail in Article XII.13. Paragraph 1 prohibits marketing emails without the recipient’s prior, free, specific and informed consent and allows the King to lay down exceptions. Paragraph 2 requires every sender to offer, in every message, a simple and free way to unsubscribe.
Belgian law distinguishes between addresses of legal entities and addresses of natural persons. That distinction is not in the Code itself but in the implementing decree.
The two exceptions of the Royal Decree of 4 April 2003
Article 1 of the Royal Decree of 4 April 2003 names two cases in which prior consent is not required:
- Your own customers (1°). You obtained the electronic contact details directly from your customer in the context of a sale, and you advertise your own similar products or services. The customer must be able to object free of charge.
- Legal entities with impersonal addresses (2°). You may write to legal entities if the electronic contact details you use for this purpose are impersonal. The report to the King gives examples such as info@, contact@, sales@ and klantendienst@ (customer service). The offer must also be intended for legal entities.
Article 2 of the same decree gives a legal entity the right to object to further advertising. Anyone who objects is removed from every future send.
What counts as an impersonal address?
The report to the King treats addresses in the form firstname.lastname@company.be as addresses of natural persons. The basic rule of Article XII.13 applies to them: consent. A functional address such as info@ or sales@ is impersonal in principle.
The Data Protection Authority adds a caveat in its recommendation 01/2025 (paragraphs 27 and 28): a functional address can also be personal data, for example when a single person uses it in a small business. Anyone relying on the exception in the decree should therefore be careful with very small businesses.
Self-employed people and liberal professions trading as sole traders are not legal entities. Even if their address starts with info@, it falls outside the exception in Article 1, 2°.
The channels at a glance
You can scroll the table sideways.
| Address or channel | Without consent? | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| info@, contact@, sales@ of a company, offer for legal entities | yes, with an unsubscribe option in every email | Royal Decree Art. 1, 2°; Code Art. XII.13(2) |
| firstname.lastname@ of an employee or director | no, consent required | Code Art. XII.13(1) |
| address of a sole trader | no, consent required | Code Art. XII.13(1) |
| free webmail address (gmail.com, hotmail.com …) | treat as personal: consent | Code Art. XII.13(1) |
| text message | no, consent required | Code Art. XII.13(1) |
| own customer, similar product | yes, with a right to object | Royal Decree Art. 1, 1° |
What this means for a purchased list
A list of email addresses does not contain consent. For a Belgian B2B campaign without consent, it can only be used for the part of the addresses covered by the decree: impersonal addresses of legal entities, with an offer intended for legal entities.
That is why the basedecontacts.be export has a separate column e_mail_type with three values: algemeen (general: info@, contact@ …), persoonlijk (personal: a name in the address) and freemail. For a campaign under the decree, keep only the general addresses, and only for businesses with the legal form of a company or association. Filter out personal and free webmail addresses, as well as sole traders. On 5 November 2026, 294,454 records in our database had their own email address; that figure says nothing about the type of address. The export page lists all columns.
If you do not want to send marketing emails, you can use the same data for an addressed postal mailing, to enrich a CRM or for market analysis.
Penalties
According to a summary on Lexgo (2017), breaching the rules on email marketing can lead to fines of up to €300,000. We have not checked that amount in the statutory text ourselves (not verified); if in doubt, have it confirmed by a lawyer. Where personal data are involved, the Data Protection Authority can also take action.
Checklist for a B2B email campaign in Belgium
- Use the right part of the list: only general addresses of legal entities, no personal addresses, no free webmail, no sole traders.
- Check that your offer really is intended for legal entities.
- Identify the sender clearly in every email and include a simple unsubscribe link (Art. XII.13(2)).
- Keep your own suppression list and match it before every send.
- Be careful with very small businesses, where a functional address may belong to one person (Data Protection Authority, recommendation 01/2025).
- Do not send marketing text messages without consent.
- If in doubt, have your approach reviewed by a lawyer.
Frequently asked questions
Can I send a marketing email to a Belgian business without consent?
Only to an impersonal address of a legal entity, such as info@ or sales@, and only for products or services intended for legal entities (Royal Decree of 4 April 2003, Art. 1, 2°). In every other case the rule of Article XII.13 of the Code of Economic Law applies: consent first, unless you are writing to your own customers about similar products.
Does the exception cover self-employed people?
No. A sole trader is not a legal entity; there is a natural person behind the address. For the self-employed and liberal professions you therefore need consent, even if the address looks like a business one.
Is an address such as jan.peeters@company.be impersonal?
No. According to the report to the King accompanying the decree, an address containing a person’s name is the address of a natural person. It requires consent, even though it belongs to a company.
Do I always need an unsubscribe link?
Yes. Article XII.13(2) requires every marketing message to offer a simple way to stop receiving advertising. A legal entity can also object to further messages at any time (Royal Decree, Art. 2).
Do the same rules apply to text messages?
Yes. According to the report to the King, electronic mail also covers text messages. Plan on prior consent for marketing by SMS.
As of 4 November 2026. Texts of the Code of Economic Law and the Royal Decree of 4 April 2003 from ejustice.just.fgov.be, recommendation 01/2025 of the Data Protection Authority, all retrieved on the same day. This article is general information, not legal advice.
