The legality of using phone number lists in Portugal is governed primarily by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which Portugal fully implements, specifically through its national data protection authority, the Comissão Nacional de Proteção de Dados (CNPD). The use of such lists is not inherently illegal, but it is subject to strict conditions to ensure the protection of individuals' personal data and privacy rights.
Crucially, you generally need a valid legal basis under GDPR to process personal data like phone numbers. For marketing purposes, this usually means obtaining explicit consent from the individuals. This consent must be portugal phone number list freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous. Pre-ticked boxes or implied consent are often insufficient for electronic marketing. Individuals must be clearly informed about how their number will be used and have the easy ability to withdraw their consent at any time.
Furthermore, the data must be accurate, kept up-to-date, and relevant to the purpose. Using outdated or improperly sourced lists is a violation. Transparency about the source of the data and its intended use is mandatory.
There are specific regulations like the ePrivacy Directive (incorporated into national law and aligned with GDPR principles) that provide additional rules regarding communications, reinforcing the need for consent before initiating marketing calls or sending commercial messages (like SMS) that might reasonably be considered spam.
In summary, using phone number lists in Portugal is legal only if strict adherence to GDPR principles, particularly obtaining valid consent and ensuring data accuracy and purpose limitation, is followed. Failure to comply can result in significant fines and legal repercussions.