The sheet to print
Stopping direct marketing: the one-page file
Seven reflexes, in the order they serve, from the email too many to the complaint. Each carries the text it stands on.
File EU 2016/679
This page is made to be printed: when printing, the whole screen around it disappears.
Law as verified onJuly 29, 2026
- 01
Lodge a named objection, not just a click
Write from the address that receives the offers: I object to the processing of my personal data for direct marketing purposes, including profiling. Date, screenshot, acknowledgement of receipt. An unsubscribe link can carry the request; the written version leaves dated proof.
Article 21(2) · Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Article 21 (Right to object), paragraph 2 · eur-lex.europa.eu - 02
Know the limit: as an existing customer, they may offer their similar products
Direct marketing emails require prior consent in principle, but a company you are already a customer of may send you offers for its own similar products or services. That is written, and it is exactly why the objection exists: it holds at any time.
Section “Withdrawing consent and the right to object” · Data protection: direct marketing and the right to object to it · europa.eu - 03
Accept neither house-made periods nor frequency deals
Once the objection is lodged, the data shall no longer be processed for direct marketing purposes. A months-long “processing time” or a “one offer a week” option is written nowhere: those are counter-offers, not rights.
Article 21(3) · Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Article 21 (Right to object), paragraph 3 · eur-lex.europa.eu - 04
Do not let them play the legitimate interest card
The balancing of interests lives in paragraph 1 of Article 21, for other kinds of processing. For direct marketing, paragraph 3 provides no exception: objecting is enough, and the related profiling falls with the mailings.
Article 21(3) · Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Article 21 (Right to object), paragraph 3 · eur-lex.europa.eu - 05
Look for the mention of your right in the very first message
The company must inform you of your right to object the first time it contacts you. If not one message in the series says a word about it, note it down: it is one more anomaly to add to the file.
Section “Withdrawing consent and the right to object” · Data protection: information about the right to object at first contact · europa.eu - 06
Count one month from receipt
The action taken must be communicated to you at the latest one month after receipt of your objection. Two further months are possible, only if the extension and its reasons were announced within the first month. Keep the acknowledgement of receipt: it is what starts the clock.
Article 12(3) · Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Article 12 (Modalities for the exercise of the rights), paragraph 3 · eur-lex.europa.eu - 07
Lodge the complaint in your own country
The supervisory authority of your habitual residence, your place of work or the place of the infringement: you choose. Attach the dated objection, their answer, and the count of messages received since.
Article 77(1) · Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Article 77 (Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority) · eur-lex.europa.eu
General information on the European baseline, not legal advice on your case. Independent educational site, unconnected to the institutions of the European Union. The redress links in this file point only to official bodies.
Sources checked on July 29, 2026. · https://depleindroit.odersa.org/en/fiches/le-demarchage-qui-ne-s-arrete-jamais · Content licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What the law owes you
Every right with its amount or its deadline, the extract of the official text it rests on, and its address.
An entire paragraph just for direct marketing
Article 21 deals with direct marketing separately: you can object at any time to the processing of your data for those purposes, related profiling included. The neighbouring paragraph requires grounds relating to your particular situation for other kinds of processing; the direct marketing paragraph asks for none.
The official text · Article 21(2)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679“2. Where personal data are processed for direct marketing purposes, the data subject shall have the right to object at any time to processing of personal data concerning him or her for such marketing, which includes profiling to the extent that it is related to such direct marketing.”
The stop flows from the objection itself
Where you object, the data shall no longer be processed for direct marketing purposes. The text grants no grace period, no balancing test, no legitimate interest exception: the sentence ends there, and it holds for every channel serving the same purpose.
The official text · Article 21(3)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679“3. Where the data subject objects to processing for direct marketing purposes, the personal data shall no longer be processed for such purposes.”
A right they must present to you, not hide from you
At the latest at the time of the first communication, the right to object must be explicitly brought to your attention and presented clearly and separately from any other information. That is an obligation on the controller, not an interface courtesy.
The official text · Article 21(4)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679“4. At the latest at the time of the first communication with the data subject, the right referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be explicitly brought to the attention of the data subject and shall be presented clearly and separately from any other information.”
An objection that can travel by machine
In the context of the use of information society services, the right to object may be exercised by automated means using technical specifications. A setting or a technical signal can therefore carry your objection: the text provides for it in black and white.
The official text · Article 21(5)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679“5. In the context of the use of information society services, and notwithstanding Directive 2002/58/EC, the data subject may exercise his or her right to object by automated means using technical specifications.”
The calendar shared by every right in the series
1 month
Information on the action taken on a request under Articles 15 to 22 is due without undue delay, and at the latest one month after receipt. An extension of two further months at most is possible, on condition that it is announced with its reasons within the first month.
The official text · Article 12(3)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679“3. The controller shall provide information on action taken on a request under Articles 15 to 22 to the data subject without undue delay and in any event within one month of receipt of the request. That period may be extended by two further months where necessary, taking into account the complexity and number of the requests. The controller shall inform the data subject of any such extension within one month of receipt of the request, together with the reasons for the delay.”
A complaint to lodge where you live
With a supervisory authority, in particular in the Member State of your habitual residence, your place of work or the place of the alleged infringement, whenever you consider that the processing infringes the Regulation. The official page states that the authority answers within three months.
The official text · Article 77(1)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679“1. Without prejudice to any other administrative or judicial remedy, every data subject shall have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the Member State of his or her habitual residence, place of work or place of the alleged infringement if the data subject considers that the processing of personal data relating to him or her infringes this Regulation.”
This site is educational and independent: it is not an official site of the European Union, and this verdict is not legal advice on your case. The deadlines and wordings quoted are copied from the official text or the official page, whose link appears under each right.
File EU 2016/679
The items in this file
Every item has its own page. The situation is played here; what you keep, what you send and what you re-read live next door.