Do you need consent before sending a newsletter?
Yes. Dutch law requires prior consent for marketing messages, with one narrow exception for existing customers. Consent must be provable.
Yes. Marketing mail needs prior consent under article 11.7 of the Dutch Telecommunications Act, with one exception: a message about your own similar products to an existing customer who was offered an opt-out at collection and with every message.
Article 11.7, paragraph 1 bans unsolicited electronic messages for commercial, idealistic or charitable purposes unless the sender can show the recipient gave prior consent. The ACM, which enforces the ban, applies it to e-mail, WhatsApp and other electronic messages. Consent must be a deliberate choice that clearly concerned advertising: no pre-ticked box, no pressure, no general terms. The ACM notes that you can prove consent up to 5 years after sending, so keep the record at least that long.
Consent under the GDPR must also be freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous, and you must be able to demonstrate it. Article 11.7 names no form of consent, so double opt-in is a common way to prove it, not a legal requirement. Record the time, the wording version, and the channel. No bought or scraped lists, and no cold campaigns to addresses that never asked.
Business addresses are covered too. Paragraph 3 waives the consent duty for a company or a sole trader in one case only. The sender uses contact details the recipient published to receive unsolicited commercial messages, and uses them for that purpose. An ordinary contact address on a website is usually published for enquiries. That is our reading, so treat it as needing consent and check with your adviser for edge cases.
The existing-customer exception, the soft opt-in in paragraph 4, covers one case. Somebody who bought a ticket from you may receive messages about your own similar events. That needs a free, easy opt-out when you collected the address, repeated in every message. A buyer of a club night can hear about the next club night. They cannot hear about an unrelated product, and a stranger cannot hear anything.
Every message carries the organizer as sender and a working unsubscribe. NightHall records the consent proof; bought lists stay out of the importer.
Sources
Telecommunicatiewet, article 11.7 (https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0009950/2026-07-01#Hoofdstuk11_Paragraaf11.1_Artikel11.7, text valid since 1 July 2026, the date of the last change to the article, read 14 October 2026). ACM on spam, consent, existing customers and proof (https://www.acm.nl/nl/onderwerpen/telecommunicatie/internet/veelgestelde-vragen-over-spam, read 14 October 2026) and for consumers (https://consument.acm.nl/veilig-online/hoe-voorkom-ik-spam, read 14 October 2026). GDPR consent and proof: Regulation (EU) 2016/679, articles 4(11) and 7 (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/679/oj). NightHall consent position (run context: opt-in only with proof of address control).
Applies to: the Netherlands, checked 14 October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice; check with your counsel for edge cases.
Applies to: Netherlands, checked 14 October 2026