Written by: Haim Ravia, Dotan Hammer
On 13 November 2025, the Court of Justice of the European Union issued its judgment in Inteligo Media SA v ANSPDCP (C-654/23), offering significant clarification on the scope of “direct marketing” under Article 13 of Directive 2002/58/EC (the e-Privacy Directive) and its interaction with the GDPR. The case involved a Romanian online publisher that sent daily email newsletters to users who had registered for a free account that provides limited access to articles, with the emails encouraging users to upgrade to paid subscriptions. The Romanian data-protection authority fined the company for sending unsolicited direct-marketing messages without proper consent, and the national court referred interpretative questions to the CJEU.
The CJEU held that the emailed newsletter constituted “communications for the purposes of direct marketing,” even if it contained editorial content. What mattered was the newsletter’s commercial intent — to promote the publisher’s paid subscription service by steering users from free-quota consumption to paid access. The Court further held that users’ email addresses were obtained “in the context of the sale of a product or service” within Article 13(2), even though the user created only a free account. A free-account model could still form part of an economic transaction linked to a product or service, especially where it acts as an entry point to a paid offer.
Importantly, the Court ruled that when Article 13(2) applies, the specific e-Privacy rules displace the GDPR lawful-basis provisions in Article 6(1). Controllers need not rely on GDPR legal bases to justify unsolicited electronic communications where the e-Privacy Directive sets out a specialist regime. Instead, organizations must strictly satisfy the Article 13(2) conditions: the communication must concern the sender’s similar products or services, contact details must have been obtained in the context of a sale, and a clear opt-out must be provided at collection and with every message.
Click here to read the CJEU judgment in Inteligo Media SA v ANSPDCP.
