Precleared

Guides

Cold email law in France: when an outbound agent may send

Before an agent sends a cold or marketing email to someone in France, these are the rules that decide whether it may. Each one is quoted from its legal source and checked on the date shown. Precleared applies them to one address at a time and returns the rule that decided, what the footer must include and a signed receipt.

The rules

Allowed

The CNIL states that generic addresses of legal persons (info@, contact@, commande@) are not subject to the prospecting rules for personal data. Identify yourself and offer a way to object.

Footer must include: Identify the sender and give a simple way to object or unsubscribe in every message.

Next step: Send. Log the receipt against the lead.

"Les adresses génériques de type info[@]nomsociete.fr, contact[@]nomsociete.fr ou commande[@]nomsociete.fr, qui concernent de personnes morales, ne sont pas soumises aux principes rappelés ci-dessus." Page dated 10 June 2026.

CNIL, La prospection commerciale par courrier électronique

Checked on 3 October 2026

Allowed

In France, prospecting a professional at a named work address may rest on legitimate interest when the subject of the message relates to the recipient's profession, provided the person was informed their address could be used for prospecting and can object.

Footer must include: State who you are, say why the message relates to their role, and give a simple way to object in every message.

Next step: Send only if the pitch relates to the recipient's profession. Confidence is medium because relevance is the caller's assertion.

"La prospection à l'égard de professionnels peut être fondée sur l'intérêt légitime de l'organisme lorsque l'objet de la sollicitation est en rapport avec la profession de la personne démarchée"; "il faut s'assurer que la personne concernée a été informée de la possible utilisation de son adresse électronique ... pour de la prospection et est en mesure de s'y opposer." Page dated 10 June 2026.

CNIL, La prospection commerciale par courrier électronique

Checked on 3 October 2026

Consent needed first

Outside the two business cases above, electronic prospecting in France requires the recipient's prior consent.

Next step: Do not cold email. Use a generic company address, a relevant pitch to a named professional, or obtain consent.

"la publicité par voie électronique ... est possible à condition que les personnes aient donné leur consentement avant d'être démarchées." Page dated 10 June 2026.

CNIL, La prospection commerciale par courrier électronique

Checked on 3 October 2026

Check one address

curl https://precleared.dev/api/v1/check \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer pc_live_..." \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "recipient_email": "jane@example.fr",
    "sender_country": "GB",
    "pitch": "Bookkeeping software for small firms",
    "address_source": "published",
    "recipient_country": "FR"
  }'

Over MCP, call contact_check with the same fields at https://precleared.dev/mcp.

Other countries

Decision support with sources, not legal advice.