We collect individuals’ addresses, telephone numbers, mobile numbers and email addresses for marketing purposes on a paper form. We have limited room on the form and we have to provide other information to comply with other legislation. What is the minimum amount of information we have to provide to comply with data protection rules?
You do not need to provide lots of legal wording to comply with your data protection obligations. If you are collecting information to market someone using a variety of media, the simplest method is to adopt the highest standard and apply it even where you do not need to.
Under the Data Protection Act, the bare minimum you are obliged to tell people is who you are and what you plan to do with their information, including any unexpected uses, such as processing for marketing purposes and disclosures to third parties. Because you plan to market by electronic means, you also need to provide consent options. The highest standard would be to give the individual the opportunity to solicit information from you, for example:
‘Please contact me by post , by telephone , by text/picture/video message with further information about your products and services (tick , by email as applicable).’
However, if you use this wording, you may not send marketing material to them by post, telephone, text message or email unless the individual ticks the box to invite further contact from you.