End of Soft Opt-In for Telemarketing: New Rules Starting July 2026

From 1 July 2026, the Dutch legislation surrounding telemarketing will change. Rules on telemarketing – contacting people by telephone to sell a product or service – are laid down in the Dutch Telecommunications Act. With the upcoming amendment, these rules will be tightened. In this blog, you can read exactly what will change and what this means for organisations that contact their customers by telephone.

The soft opt-in: contacting customers based on a customer relationship
Under the current Telecommunications Act (Article 11.7(4) Tw), organisations may use data from former and existing customers to contact them again with advertising offers without their consent. In this case, this unsolicited communication is based on the customer relationship: if someone has previously purchased something from your organisation, you may contact that person again on the basis of that relationship, as long as it concerns your own similar products or services. This is also known as the 'soft opt-in'. The soft opt-in currently applies to both telemarketing and digital direct marketing (such as email and text messages). However, this is subject to the condition that customers are informed about possible telemarketing and digital direct marketing when entering into the customer relationship, and that they can easily unsubscribe from such marketing communications at any time.

What will change?
However, as of 1 July 2026, the soft opt-in for telemarketing will come to an end. From then, organisations will always have to obtain consent before they can contact their customers by telephone with advertising offers for similar products or services, even if there is an existing customer relationship. Although the reason for this tightening was mainly complaints about telephone sales of energy contracts, the legislator has opted for a general regulation that goes beyond the energy sector. With the amendment, the legislator wants to better protect consumers against impulse purchases: after all, a telephone call often does not provide the opportunity to carefully consider an offer.

Although it is already required that consumers give their written consent after an agreement was concluded by telephone, the legislator considers this measure to be insufficiently effective in practice. For this reason, a broader, preventive approach has been chosen in the form of the consent requirement.

The soft opt-in will remain in place for digital direct marketing. In the case of advertising via email or text message, customers can view the content at a time of their choosing, reducing the risk of hasty decisions. 

Exempt organisations
For now, the ban on telemarketing based on customer relationships will remain limited to telephone sales for commercial purposes. The legislator considers the risks to consumers to be less significant in the case of telemarketing for non-profit and charitable purposes. This means that organisations such as political parties and charities will be able to continue to use telemarketing based on an existing customer relationship for the time being. In addition, there is an exception for certain lotteries that contribute to social causes such as culture, sports and charities. Certain publishers of newspapers, weekly magazines and periodicals are also exempt. 

What does this mean for your organisation?
The amendment to the law has already been passed, but a transition period has been decided upon to allow organisations to adapt their business operations to the new situation. The Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) will monitor compliance with the new rules. Valid consent must be obtained in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (Article 4(11) and Article 7 GDPR). This means, among other things, that consent must be obtained freely and unambiguously and that it must be clear to customers what they are consenting to. In addition, organisations must be able to demonstrate which customers have given consent for telemarketing.

Does your organisation regularly call existing customers to sell similar products or services and are you not one of the exempt organisations? Then the new rules may also have an impact on your organisation's telemarketing policy. It is recommendable to review this policy to see if any changes are necessary.

Does your organisation need help reviewing its telemarketing policy? Feel free to contact us. At Considerati, we are ready to help organisations with practical solutions.