If you condition participation in a sweepstakes on receiving advertising on a particular topic from the provider of the sweepstakes or from other third parties — this is still valid consent under GDPR, says the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt, Germany.
Key takeaways:
- Requiring consent to marketing as a condition to participation in a sweepstakes does not constitute coercion. The individual is free to decide whether or not to participate (free choice) and whether the participation is worth the disclosure of his data and deciding not to participate will not result in suffering any disadvantages.
- If you notify the individual of all the companies that will contact them — that is specific enough. An exception is if the number of companies is so great that the person can’t realistically deal with all these companies and their business area.
- The notice has to describe the subject / topic of the advertising with specificity.
- Sufficient: “electricity and gas.”
- Not sufficient: general explanations such as the fact that the consent extends to “financial services of all kinds.”