Cold email to Germany 2026: UWG §7 requires consent

No, you cannot legally send cold sales emails to German businesses without prior consent. Section 7(2) no. 2 of Germany's Act against Unfair Competition (UWG) treats advertising by electronic mail without the recipient's "prior express consent" as an unreasonable nuisance, and it makes no exception for B2B. German courts have extended the same rule to LinkedIn messages. The UK and France, by contrast, allow B2B cold email with an opt-out.

That makes Germany the most common place for a European outbound campaign to go wrong. The rules are old, but in 2026 more teams are running LinkedIn and email agents across borders, and a single German lead in a list is enough to create exposure.

Legal information, not legal advice. This article summarises the statute and published case law as of September 2026. For a campaign into Germany, talk to a German lawyer. Revexa builds Leo, a buying-signal agent, and we describe how Leo handles German recipients at the end.

What does UWG §7 actually say?

The key provision is short. Per the current text of §7 UWG, an unreasonable nuisance is always assumed:

Three things follow from that table:

• The word is "addressee", not "consumer". Email to a managing director at a GmbH needs consent just like email to a private person.
• Phone is looser than email for B2B. Calls to businesses need only presumed consent. German courts read that narrowly, but it is a different test.
• The existing-customer exception is narrow. It covers people who bought from you, not people who downloaded a whitepaper or visited your booth.

Numbering note: older judgments and articles, including the OLG Hamm decision below, cite the email rule as §7(2) no. 3, the numbering before a 2022 amendment. It is the same rule.

Does it apply to B2B cold email?

Yes. The Federal Court of Justice held as early as 2009 that "even a single unsolicited sending of an email with advertising" can be an unlawful interference with a business (BGH, 20 May 2009, I ZR 218/07). There is no "minimal harm" threshold and no rule that one email is fine.

That is why the usual B2B arguments fail in Germany:

• "It is relevant to their job." Relevance matters in France and under GDPR legitimate interest. It does not replace consent under UWG §7(2) no. 2.
• "Their address is public on the website." A published address is not consent.
• "It is only one email." The BGH rejected that in 2009.
• "We include an unsubscribe link." Required, but it only satisfies §7(2) no. 3. It does not create consent.

Are LinkedIn messages covered too?

Yes, according to the courts that have looked at it. In a notice decision of 3 May 2023, the Higher Regional Court of Hamm held that "electronic mail" in §7 UWG covers not only email, SMS and MMS but all messages via social media services such as XING, Facebook, LinkedIn and WhatsApp, and that advertising through them requires prior express consent (OLG Hamm, 18 U 154/22).

Be precise about what that case was. The defendant sold contact leads to estate agents, and the recipients were people who had listed property for sale, not businesses. The reasoning, however, rests on the definition of electronic mail, and the statute does not distinguish B2B from B2C for that channel. German practitioners such as Kanzlei Plutte therefore treat advertising DMs on LinkedIn as needing consent in B2B too. The same firm reports a 2025 district court ruling (AG Düsseldorf, 23 C 120/25) that a connection on a social network is not consent to advertising.

The courts also read "electronic mail" broadly elsewhere. The Nuremberg Higher Regional Court held in 2019 that ads placed inside a free email inbox were not email (OLG Nürnberg, 3 U 724/18). The Federal Court of Justice reversed that in 2022 after the EU Court of Justice ruled such inbox ads are direct marketing by electronic mail. The direction of travel is clear: new channels get pulled into the consent rule, not left out of it.

What this means in practice:

Who enforces it, and what does it cost?

Unlike many privacy rules, UWG is mostly enforced privately. Competitors and qualified associations can send a formal warning (Abmahnung), usually with a demand to sign a cease-and-desist declaration backed by a contractual penalty, plus the lawyer's fees. Recipients themselves can also claim injunctions under general civil law. If the matter goes to court, costs rise.

The practical risk is not a regulator knocking. It is one annoyed recipient with a lawyer, or a competitor looking for leverage. GDPR sits on top of this: a work email and a name are personal data wherever the recipient is.

How does Germany compare with Sweden, the UK and France?

Sources: Sweden, the Marketing Practices Act (marknadsföringslagen 2008:486, §§19–20) and its preparatory work. UK, the ICO's PECR guidance. France, CNIL. We have not verified other EU countries for this article, so we leave them out rather than guess.

In all four, GDPR also applies. For the B2B basis, see GDPR and B2B email under legitimate interest.

How to sell into Germany without cold email or DMs

German buyers are reachable. The first touch just cannot be an unsolicited electronic advertisement.

1. Earn the opt-in. Webinars, a useful benchmark, an event list. Get explicit consent, log when and how, and keep the proof: the burden of proof is on you.
2. Use the phone carefully. Calls to businesses need presumed consent, which courts read as a concrete, recognisable interest of that business. Document why.
3. Send a letter. Postal advertising is not covered by the electronic-mail consent rule. The recipient can still object.
4. Be visible where they already are. Comment on German buyers' posts, publish in German, run ads. Let them come to you.
5. Answer when they reach out. A conversation they start is not cold advertising.
6. Use partners. A German reseller or agency with its own consented audience.

Buying signals still help here. Knowing which German companies engage with your competitors tells you where to focus content, events and ads, even when you may not message them directly. More in LinkedIn engagement as a buying signal.

How Leo handles German recipients

Since 27 September 2026, Leo does not send cold electronic outreach to leads in Germany. That covers email, LinkedIn DMs and LinkedIn connection requests, for every customer.

• Detection. Leo checks the lead's own location, a .de email address or domain, the company's headquarters and any country or address in your CRM.
• Two locks. The outreach gate refuses the row before a draft reaches you, and each sending function refuses a German recipient again at the point of sending, even if someone approves it.
• Visible reason. The lead stays in your Leads view, marked with the consent rule as the reason, and is not counted against your capacity.
• Replies still work. If a German lead writes to you, you can answer, and unsubscribe requests always go through.

The limit, honestly: detection depends on data. A lead with no known location and a .com address can slip through. You remain responsible for your campaigns, and a German ICP should be planned around consent from the start.

Leo costs $99, €89 or 999 SEK per month for 2 LinkedIn profiles and 1 mailbox, with every message approved by you by default. Start Leo free for 7 days.

Frequently asked questions

Is B2B cold email legal in Germany?

Not without prior express consent. UWG §7(2) no. 2 requires consent for advertising by electronic mail and does not exempt business recipients. The narrow exception covers existing customers who bought a similar product from you.

Can I send LinkedIn messages to German prospects?

Not advertising messages without consent, according to OLG Hamm (18 U 154/22), which held that LinkedIn messages are electronic mail under §7 UWG. A LinkedIn connection is not consent to advertising.

What happens if I send cold emails to Germany?

The usual consequence is a formal warning (Abmahnung) from a competitor, an association or the recipient, with a cease-and-desist declaration, a contractual penalty and legal fees. Court proceedings cost more.

Is Sweden stricter or looser than Germany?

Looser for companies. In Sweden you may email legal persons without consent, but every message must include a valid opt-out address. Sole traders count as natural persons and require consent.

Does GDPR legitimate interest allow cold email in Germany?

No. GDPR governs the personal data. UWG governs the advertising channel. You need to satisfy both, and UWG requires consent for email regardless of your GDPR basis.