A message with a good offer sent at the right time can generate sales in minutes. The same message, sent without consent or without a clear opt-out option, can create complaints, damage the brand's reputation, and expose the company to compliance risks. The question is whether SMS marketing is legal has a short answer: yes, but only when the database, content, and sending process comply with applicable rules.
For companies communicating in Romania or to individuals in the European Economic Area, SMS marketing must be analyzed through two lenses: the rules regarding electronic commercial communications and personal data protection requirements. A fast sending platform is useful, but it cannot turn a non-compliant list into a legal one. Responsibility for recipients and the message remains with the company launching the campaign.
Is SMS marketing legal in Romania?
SMS marketing can be legal if the recipient has given prior, explicit, and informed consent to receive such communications. In practice, this consent must be separate from other acceptances, easy to understand, and demonstrable later. A pre-selected checkbox, vague wording, or assumed consent just because a person provided their phone number are not safe approaches.
The rules are particularly influenced by Law no. 506/2004 on electronic communications and the General Data Protection Regulation, known as GDPR. The communications law focuses on the transmission of unsolicited commercial communications, while GDPR establishes how you collect, store, segment, and protect personal data used in the campaign.
There is a relevant exception for the relationship with existing customers. If you have legally obtained the contact details in the context of selling a product or service, you can send offers for similar products or services. However, the customer must have had a simple and free option to object from the data collection and in every subsequent message. The exception is not a general permission to promote anything to any customer in the database.
For example, an online store can inform a customer who purchased skincare products about an offer on similar products if it respects their right to object. It would be much more difficult to justify promoting an unrelated financial service or sending messages to people who only started an order without accepting promotional communications.
What a valid SMS consent means
Operationally useful consent is one you can explain and prove without hesitation. It must be freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous. The customer must know who is writing to them, what kind of messages they will receive, and through which channel.
In the subscription form, the wording should clearly indicate that the person agrees to receive marketing SMS from your company. If you also use email, WhatsApp, or calls, collect the options separately. An agreement for a newsletter is not automatically an agreement for SMS, and combining all channels into a single checkbox reduces clarity and can complicate proof of consent.
Keep a record of the agreement: phone number, date and time, source of collection, the exact text presented to the person, and proof of the subscription action. If a customer disputes the message, this data helps you quickly verify the situation. They are as important as the delivery rate or conversion rate.
Double opt-in, meaning subscription confirmation via a code or response to an SMS, is not mandatory in every situation, but it can be a very good measure. It reduces the risk of a number being entered incorrectly, a person signing up someone else, or the database containing hard-to-defend consents.
Unsubscription must work immediately
Each promotional SMS must offer a clear method to stop the messages. Depending on the campaign setup, you can use an instruction like "Reply STOP to unsubscribe." The important thing is not just the text but also the process behind it: the request must be captured, recorded, and applied quickly in all relevant flows.
Do not ask the customer to call, send an email, or fill out a form to stop receiving communications. An unsubscription that requires additional effort is frustrating for the customer and risky for the business. Also, do not send marketing messages to ask for reconfirmation of consent from people who have already opposed communications.
A marketing exclusion does not necessarily mean stopping transactional messages. Order confirmations, OTP codes, security alerts, or essential delivery updates have a different purpose. The technical separation between promotional and operational flows is essential so that an unsubscribed customer no longer receives offers but can still receive an authentication code requested by them.
Purchased lists and B2B messages: where most errors occur
A purchased list may seem like a quick solution to increase the audience, but it is usually a poor choice. You do not control how the numbers were collected, the wording of the consent, or whether people have already requested data deletion. Moreover, an old database generates unnecessary costs, low response rates, and complaints.
Segmentation based on your own correctly collected data is more effective. A smaller base, with recipients who have chosen to receive messages, will usually perform better than thousands of uncertain contacts. Verifying numbers, removing duplicates, and managing inactive numbers help both compliance and the campaign budget.
In B2B, the rule is not that any company number can be contacted freely. If the number identifies a person or is used by an employee, data protection and the applicable commercial communications rule must be analyzed. Even when contacting a legal entity, repeated, irrelevant, or opposition-free messages can damage the commercial relationship. For large-volume B2B campaigns, validate the legal scenario and the market you are sending to separately.
How to organize a compliant SMS campaign
A safe campaign starts before loading contacts. Establish the message's purpose, verify the source and permissions for each segment, then draft a message that identifies the sender and includes an unsubscribe path. Avoid misleading promises, artificial urgencies, and any wording that hides the commercial nature of the communication.
Before launch, separate contacts without consent, unsubscribed numbers, and recipients who should no longer be contacted. Limit employees' access to the data they need, establish retention periods, and document the roles of involved providers. If you work with a messaging provider, check security measures, data processing methods, and the ability to handle deletion or opposition requests.
A platform like SMSense can support this process through mass campaigns, bidirectional messaging, automations, and infrastructure for transactional messages. However, configuring exclusion lists, the STOP response, and sender identification should be treated as part of the campaign, not as an administrative task left for later.
A compliant message is also more effective
A good SMS quickly states who is sending it, what the client receives, and what action they can take. The message must be relevant to the chosen segment and sent at a reasonable time. An offer for loyal customers, a restocking alert, or a personalized code for an abandoned cart can make sense when there is proper consent and controlled frequency.
Measure not only clicks and sales but also unsubscriptions, complaints, failed deliveries, and responses. An increase in unsubscriptions after a certain campaign may indicate that the message is too frequent, segmentation is wrong, or the expectations created at subscription do not match reality.
When you need a legal check
Consult a data protection specialist before launch if you use data from a partner, send to multiple countries, combine profiles from different sources, target sensitive categories of people, or run high-volume campaigns. This is not unnecessary bureaucracy. An analysis done before sending is simpler and cheaper than managing a complaint afterward.
Legal SMS marketing does not mean sending fewer messages without reason. It means sending messages to people who want to receive them, respecting their choice, and building a process that can grow with the business. When consent, data, and automation are in order, each campaign starts with more confidence.
