November 14, 2016

A company that sent out 2.2 million illegal marketing text messages has been fined £70,000 and ordered to stop by the ICO. The penalty was issued to London-based Nouveau Finance Ltd, a company that provides a loan matching service.

Although there were only 92 complaints made about the messages, an ICO investigation revealed that Nouveau Finance had sent out over two million messages without consent.

The business, which is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority, contracted a marketing services company to carry out the six-month-long text campaign, but failed to check that this company had complied with the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003. People had not given permission to receive the messages and the company did not state where it was from.

The ICO reminded readers that it is unlawful for a business to send text messages to people when they have not given specific consent to receive them. Alongside the fine, the ICO also issued an enforcement notice ordering the company to stop sending unlawful texts in the future. If the company does not comply with the notice, it could face court action.

Steve Eckersley, the ICO’s Head of Enforcement said: “Relying on another company to do your marketing is not a get-out clause when it comes to the law. If your business has instigated a campaign, you are responsible and it’s up to you to make sure it meets the requirements of some very strict regulations. Our investigation found that despite relying heavily on direct marketing for its business, the company did not seem to understand the rules around electronic marketing and that’s not good enough.”

As previously reported in N2K, the Government has recently announced plans to introduce fines for company directors heading up nuisance marketing firms. The new law should be in place by next spring. To read the ICO’s press release and for links to the Monetary Penalty Notice and the Enforcement Notice, click here.