Three new enforcement actions in Q1 alone.
The EU Data Protection Board's Q1 2026 guidance tightens the definition of 'legitimate interest' as a lawful basis for marketing email in three critical ways. First, the soft opt-in exemption for existing customers now requires active confirmation within 12 months. Second, pre-ticked consent boxes are now explicitly prohibited across all member states. Third, suppression lists must be maintained indefinitely and cannot be pruned.
Three notable enforcement actions have already landed this quarter. A German newsletter publisher was fined €820K for using pre-checked opt-in boxes during event registration. A UK e-commerce brand received a £490K fine for purging suppression lists as part of a 'list hygiene' process. A French SaaS company was sanctioned for claiming legitimate interest on marketing emails to cold prospects who had never interacted with the brand.
For email marketers, the immediate action items are clear: audit every consent touchpoint in your acquisition flows. Replace any pre-checked boxes with explicit opt-in. Implement a rolling 12-month re-consent campaign for your entire list. Treat your suppression list as a permanent legal record, not a housekeeping task.
MailMind's GDPR module handles suppression list maintenance, consent timestamp storage with cryptographic proof of consent, and automated re-consent campaign generation. If you're not using it, navigate to Settings → Compliance to activate it today. The cost of a fine dwarfs the cost of compliance.
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