As a business owner or email marketer, it’s thrilling to see your email campaigns succeed. But keeping up with the latest email marketing laws for 2025? Not so exciting…😩
Still, knowing these rules & staying compliant is a key part of your work. To help you stay on track, we’ve put together this easy-to-follow guide on global email regulations.
Let’s discover the seven key spam & email privacy laws and their importance, as well as learn how to apply the right compliance features. 😊
The Importance of Email Marketing Rules & Regulations
According to OptinMonster‘s recent statistics, over 4.5 billion people worldwide will use email in 2025, and it’s projected to exceed over 4.8 billion by 2027.
These figures clearly demonstrate email’s pivotal role as one of the top five effective marketing channels. However, as email usage increases, concerns about privacy & data security are growing.
As a matter of fact, according to MailChimp, the demand for data protection has risen by over 700%. This statistic underscores how essential businesses are to adhere to email marketing laws.
These regulations, such as GDPR, CAN-SPAM, CASL, etc., protect subscribers’ data privacy & security, prevent them from receiving spam & unwanted emails, and also increase their trust.
Furthermore, these email marketing rules guide email marketers on how to use marketing emails for their business & promotional purposes to ensure that everyone follows these ethical practices & legal requirements.
Most importantly, failure to comply with these rules can result in hefty fines, damage to your brand reputation, and loss of customer trust.
What Are the Most Important Global Email Marketing Laws for 2025?
There are multiple essential regulations & laws governing email marketing based on where businesses and their recipients are.
However, the ones every marketer and business owner should know about are the CAN-SPAM Act (United States), GDPR (EU), CCPA (California), CASL (Canada), and more. (I’ll go over each of these in more detail below.)
1. CAN-SPAM Act
The CAN-SPAM Act, which stands for Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing, was passed in 2003 to protect Internet users from all spam and fraudulent emails. This law established the first national regulations & standards in the United States for sending commercial emails.
According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the CAN-SPAM Act includes all promotional emails intended to advertise a product & service or brand and gives all email recipients the right to have companies stop emailing them.
✔️ To whom Does It Apply?
The law applies to all businesses sending transactional or commercial emails to a US resident.
✔️ Non-Compliance Penalties
Penalties for non-compliance reach up to $51,744 per email violation.
2. GDPR
The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) is known as the biggest measure of its kind thus far for controlling data transmission and privacy guidelines.
The European Union (EU) approved this law on April 14, 2016, and it can be considered along the same lines as email spam laws, which are designed to protect personal rights & privacy and, most importantly, user consent.
Under the GDPR, companies that collect any information from EU citizens are legally obligated to protect users’ personal data and don’t have any ownership rights to their consumers’ data.
Also, companies need to obtain permission from their EU users before using their personal information.
In addition, companies should provide a description of how their EU consumers’ information will be used and give them a way to unsubscribe or change their consent to have all information associated with them permanently removed.
These are just a few of the provisions of the GDPR.
✔️ To whom Does It Apply?
The GDPR applies to all companies or organizations and all types of businesses (whether inside or outside the EU) that collect or process the personal data of any European citizen.
✔️ Non-Compliance Penalties
When the GDPR comes into force in EU countries, companies that violate it can face fines of up to €20 million or 2-4% of their global turnover (whichever is higher).
3. CCPA
CCPA stands for California Consumer Privacy Act, which was passed by the California Legislature and went into effect on January 1, 2020, for all California residents & customers.
This act gives individuals who live in California or are temporarily out of state the right to have more control over the personal information that businesses collect about them.
Effective January 1, 2023, CCPA was amended by CPRA (California Privacy Rights Act) to provide stronger protections & additional rights for California residents, including employees, contractors, and business contacts, which ensures that users’ personal data remains private & secure.
According to the CCPA & CPRA, California residents’ rights include:
- The right to know what personal information businesses collect about them and how it’s used & shared.
- The right to inform the categories of consumers’ personal information collected by third-party tools.
- The right to limit the disclosure of consumers’ sensitive personal information.
- The right to delete personal information collected from customers.
- The right to opt out of the sale of consumers’ personal information.
- The right to correct consumers’ inaccurate personal information.
✔️ To whom Does It Apply?
The law applies to for-profit entities that do business in California and collect personal data from California residents who meet the following criteria:
- Generating annual gross revenue of over $25 million
- Buying, receiving, or selling personal information from 100,000 or more California residents, households, or devices per year
- Getting 50% or more of their annual revenue from selling personal information from California residents
✔️ Non-Compliance Penalties
If companies violate CCPA/CPRA, they get 30 days to resolve the issues. If it is not resolved, they’ll receive a fine.
Non-compliance penalties can reach up to $2,500 per violation or $7,500 for willful violations.
4. CASL
CASL stands for Canada’s anti-spam legislation created by Canada in 2014. This act protects Canadian businesses & consumers from misusing digital technology, including spam & cyber threats.
CASL requires companies and businesses to obtain express or implied consent from recipients before sending them marketing emails.
You may be wondering what implied or explicit consent means.
Implied consent means that the consumer’s email address was publicly available. In comparison, express consent involves someone willingly giving us their email address in exchange for something.
✔️ To whom Does It Apply?
CASL applies to anyone, including businesses and individuals, who send electronic messages, whether email or SMS, social media messages within, from, or to Canada for commercial purposes.
✔️ Non-Compliance Penalties
The non-compliance penalty for individuals is CA$1 million per violation & CA$10 million for businesses.
5. Spam Act 2003
The Spam Act 2003 (Cth) is an essential email marketing act passed by the Australian Parliament in 2003 to regulate promotional & commercial email and also other types of commercial electronic messages, such as SMS or social media messages.
This Australian act prohibits businesses and marketers from sending commercial messages & emails without the recipient’s consent.
✔️ To whom Does It Apply?
The Australian Spam Act applies to all businesses that use their consumers’ email addresses for commercial purposes.
✔️ Non-Compliance Penalties
The non-compliance fines reach up to AU$220,000 for organizations and AU$44,000 for individuals for the first violation of a single day.
However, if non-compliance is repeated, businesses can be fined up to AU$1.1 million and persons up to AU$220,000.
6. LGPD
LGPD stands for “the Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados,” which translates to “the General Data Protection Law” and was enacted in Brazil in 2020.
This act regulates how personal data is processed and gives consumers the right to access, confirm, correct, delete, or anonymize their data.
Therefore, this General Data Protection Law requires businesses to obtain individuals’ consent in a free, specific, unambiguous, and informed manner before collecting and processing their personal data.
✔️ To whom Does It Apply?
LGPD applies to any business, organization, or individual, regardless of location, that collects & processes consumers’ personal data for commercial purposes in Brazil.
✔️ Non-Compliance Penalties
Non-compliance penalties reach 2-4% of the company’s revenue or R$50-R$100 million per violation in Brazil.
7. DPDP Act
DPDP Act, or the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, was passed in India in August 2023, which is a comprehensive law and legal framework to protect the data privacy of Indian residents.
DPDP is the set of regulations and laws related to collecting, storing, processing, and sharing personal data of consumers.
✔️ To whom Does It Apply?
The DPDP Bill applies to government agencies, companies established in India, and foreign companies that process the personal data of Indian residents.
✔️ Non-Compliance Penalties
Non-compliance penalties reach almost $30 million for clear email violations.
Best Practices to Comply with Email Regulations
Ensuring compliance with email regulations is the first step to getting your emails through email filters and into subscribers’ inboxes.
These are some of the most important things to remember regarding compliance with email laws & guidelines. ⤵
- Ensure accurate header information: Your messages should have correct “From,” “To,” “Reply-to,” and “Mailed-by/Signed-by” details that accurately identify the sender.
- Avoid deceptive or misleading subject lines: Each marketing email you send should include the right subject line that sets up the right expectation of your email content. In fact, tell your recipient what’s inside the email.
- Clearly label messages as advertisements: You should clearly disclose that your communication is an advertisement.
- Obtain consent from all email recipients: Before sending commercial emails to recipients, inform subscribers about the data collection practices & the purpose of their subscription to get their consent using your (double) opt-opt-in forms.
- Provide clear unsubscribe instructions: Explain how recipients can easily opt out from all or certain emails. Include a visible unsubscribe link in every email. Make sure the instructions are clear, legible, and accessible.
- Process unsubscribe requests promptly: Implement an unsubscribe mechanism that works for at least 30 days after sending the message. Although anti-spam laws like the CAN-SPAM Act require that all unsubscribe requests be processed within ten business days, honor these requests as quickly as possible—ideally, immediately. This improves the user experience.
- Protect unsubscribe requests: Make sure spam filters don’t block unsubscribe requests, and avoid selling or transferring email addresses after they’ve been unsubscribed, except to help with email laws compliance.
- Manage your subscriber list regularly: On top of processing unsubscribe mechanisms & requests, you need to clean your email list regularly by removing inactive subscribers and keeping those who engage with your email campaigns.
- Include a valid postal address: Enter your business’s physical mailing address in your email campaigns. It can be a street address, a registered postbox, or a mailbox from a commercial mail-receiving agency.
- Maintain oversight of third-party actions: Compliance responsibility can’t be eliminated; even if you use third-party tools to find your customers’ email addresses, your company is still responsible for compliance. As a matter of fact, if there’s an email violation, you may both be legally responsible.
🎁 Bonus Suggestion- Boost Your Email Marketing Campaign with the Best Third-Party Tools
If you’re sending emails and aren’t sure whether you’re in line with all email regulations, you can take one simple step.
Use the most reliable email finder & verification software, like CUFinder, and the best email marketing platform in 2025, like MailChimp, to keep your email marketing strategy under GDPR, CCPA, and other regulations.
These tools make complying with email marketing laws, such as GDPR, CCPA, CAN-SPAM Act, etc., easy.
Using these email marketing platforms, you can track spam complaints, unsubscribed, bounces, and other key measures. The email marketing statistics help you recognize the overall health of your email campaigns.
On top of that, by taking advantage of CUFinder’s email enrichment services, you can build your email list in the right & authentic way and can easily send the targeted campaigns that meet the legal requirements, as well as drive the best results for your business.
Wrap Up
Before you start sending campaigns for your business, it’s crucial to understand the email marketing laws and how to comply with them.
Keep in mind that compliance with the latest email marketing laws for 2025 doesn’t mean your email will land in the inbox! Depending on deliverability, reputation, and inbox location, you may still be blacklisted and blocked or sent straight to the junk folder.
If something is still unclear, ask in the comments 💬 – remember, email marketing rules are not for the faint of heart!
FAQs
1. How do you make sure your email marketing campaigns meet the laws?
To make sure your email marketing campaigns meet the laws, you should strive to obtain explicit consent from recipients, include a clear opt-out option in each email, provide accurate sender information in full, and be aware of & comply with the latest email-related regulations in your region.
2. What do email marketing laws stand for?
Email marketing law is designed to protect recipients from spam & fraudulent emails and to ensure transparency, consent, and the ability to unsubscribe from communications.
3. Is it illegal to send marketing emails?
The short answer is no, but there’s a catch: as long as you comply with the guidelines & rules of email marketing, sending unsolicited emails is not a problem.