---
schema_version: "1"
id: 90fe6795818e75a310ed22a344d575b0f612506734fd984409ece9e3b2591ca4
title: Commercial Email Regulation Considerations
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/sales/264-0-0/emailadmin_considerations_email_regs.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sales.emailadmin_considerations_email_regs.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: 836287ce7ee27c1225e2ba7ac1fc79779afadc47480b6f6909ab308479bcaea8
description: Sending unsolicited email puts your brand and company at risk. Consumers are increasingly aware of legislation regulating commercial email and intolerant of unsolicited mail in their inboxes. Repeated unsolicited emails can lead to complaints and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) blocking your emails. Learn some basic steps you can take as part of your compliance with regulations affecting commercial email like the CAN-SPAM Act and GDPR.
products:
  - Sales Cloud
  - Cross Cloud
  - Service Cloud Voice
release: "264"
---
# Commercial Email Regulation Considerations

Sending unsolicited email puts your brand and company at risk. Consumers are increasingly aware of legislation regulating commercial email and intolerant of unsolicited mail in their inboxes. Repeated unsolicited emails can lead to complaints and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) blocking your emails. Learn some basic steps you can take as part of your compliance with regulations affecting commercial email like the CAN-SPAM Act and GDPR.

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small editions"><colgroup><col></colgroup><tbody><tr class=""><td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;">Available in: both Salesforce Classic and Lightning Experience</td></tr><tr class=""><td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;">Available in: all editions</td></tr></tbody></table>

The CAN-SPAM Act is the U.S. Federal law regulating commercial email that took effect on January 1, 2004.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a comprehensive European privacy law that took effect on May 25, 2018. The GDPR regulates the “processing” of data for EU individuals, which includes collection, storage, transfer, or use. Any organization that processes personal data of EU individuals is within the scope of the GDPR, regardless of whether the organization has a physical presence in the EU. Although GDPR is larger than email, it includes specific requirements affecting commercial email.

Tips for commercial email:

- Make sure that subject lines are not deceptive or misleading.
- Always capture affirmative consent from your users.
- Process unsubscribe requests within 10 days and enforce them across your entire enterprise.
- For transactional or relationship messages, make sure that the subject line is non-promotional.
- Within the message, place the transactional content above any commercial content.

#### See Also

- [Abuse and Compliance](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_es_can_spam_compliance.htm&type=5&language=en_US)
- [Data Protection and Privacy](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=xcloud.data_protection_and_privacy.htm&type=5&language=en_US)
- [GDPR.EU: How does the GDPR affect email?](https://gdpr.eu/email-encryption/)
- [Salesforce Agreement and Terms: Acceptable Use and External-Facing Services Policy](https://c1.sfdcstatic.com/content/dam/web/en_us/www/documents/legal/Agreements/policies/ExternalFacing_Services_Policy.pdf)