Charities have been warned to carefully consider how they implement a proposed amendment to the Data (Use and Access) Bill that would prevent the removal of a soft opt-in provision for charities’ email marketing.

The government adopted the amendment after a campaign led by the trade body the Data & Marketing Association and backed by several charities.

The campaign group said extending the soft opt-in for charities could increase annual donations in the UK by £290m. 

In a statement published this week, the information commissioner, John Edwards, said he supported the amendment because it would help charities better communicate with people who support their purposes.

But he said it might not be appropriate to rely on the soft opt-in in some cases.

“We would expect charities to consider implementation carefully, including their UK GDPR obligations,” Edwards said.

“Where organisations are relying on legitimate interests for their processing, they will need to carefully assess their interests and balance them against the impact on individual rights and freedoms.

“In some cases, it may not be appropriate to rely on the soft opt-in, for example where someone accesses an organisation’s crisis service and subsequently sending them direct marketing mail could result in harm.”

Under current law, the soft opt-in is only available to commercial organisations but the amendment means it will extend to the charity sector.

Commercial organisations can only use the soft opt-in when sending marketing emails or texts to offer similar goods or services, the ICO said.

For example, if a customer buys a car and gives an organisation their contact details, the organisation would only be able to market to them products or services that relate to the car, such as offering servicing or MOTs.

The amendment will allow charities to send direct marketing emails to people who they have an existing relationship with, such as donors or people who express an interest in their charitable purposes.

The DMA has been contacted for further comment.