Email Laws in Belgium
Understanding GDPR and Book XII Economic Law Code and how it affects sending transactional and marketing emails to recipients in Belgium.
Overview of GDPR and Book XII Economic Law Code
Belgium regulates commercial email through GDPR and Book XII Economic Law Code. This legislation governs how businesses can send electronic communications to recipients in Belgium, including requirements for consent, content, sender identification, and unsubscribe mechanisms. As a developer sending transactional or marketing emails to users in Belgium, you must understand these requirements to avoid penalties and maintain deliverability. Non-compliance can result in significant fines, domain blacklisting, and loss of sender reputation.
Transactional vs marketing email under Belgium law
Most email regulations distinguish between transactional emails (password resets, order confirmations, account notifications) and marketing emails (promotional content, newsletters). In Belgium, transactional emails are generally exempt from consent requirements because they are necessary for a service the user has requested. However, if your transactional email includes promotional content, it may be reclassified as marketing under GDPR and Book XII Economic Law Code. Keep transactional emails focused on the transaction to maintain this exemption. AISend's content scoring helps you identify when email content might cross the line from transactional to promotional.
Key compliance requirements
To comply with GDPR and Book XII Economic Law Code when sending emails to recipients in Belgium: obtain proper consent before sending marketing emails, include clear sender identification in every email, provide a working unsubscribe mechanism for marketing emails, honor unsubscribe requests promptly, maintain records of consent, and include a physical mailing address. For transactional emails, ensure you only send emails related to a service the user has signed up for, include accurate sender information, and don't embed marketing content within transactional messages.
How AISend helps with compliance in Belgium
AISend supports compliance with GDPR and Book XII Economic Law Code through several features: content scoring flags potential compliance issues before sending, webhook-based suppression lists ensure you never send to users who have unsubscribed, and domain authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) ensures your emails are properly identified. AISend is designed primarily for transactional email, which has fewer regulatory requirements than marketing email. For marketing emails to Belgium recipients, consider using a dedicated marketing email platform that handles consent management and list hygiene.
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