Get Started

What the law requires before you mail a catalogue

Postal marketing sits outside PECR, the rules that cover email and phone marketing, but UK GDPR and the ICO's direct marketing code still apply. This page sets out your lawful basis for holding a mailing list, when you must screen it against the Mailing Preference Service, and what Royal Mail's size and weight bands mean for format and cost.

Data protection and post

The lawful basis for posting a catalogue to someone's home

A catalogue sent through the post is direct marketing, and the rules that make it lawful are not the same rules that cover email or text. This sets out which law actually applies to a mailing list, and what a business needs to have in place before the first catalogue goes out.

  1. PECR does not cover addressed mail

    The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR) set the consent rules for email marketing, text messages and most automated calls. PECR does not apply to addressed mail, so a catalogue sent to a named address does not need the same opt-in consent that an email campaign would. That does not mean postal marketing is unregulated, because a different law covers the personal data behind it.

  2. UK GDPR governs the mailing list itself

    A name and address held for marketing purposes is personal data, so the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) applies to the list even though PECR does not apply to the mailing. Article 6 of UK GDPR requires a lawful basis before that data is used, and a business has to be able to point to one if asked.

    Legitimate interests

    Most catalogue mailers rely on legitimate interests, which requires a documented assessment weighing the business's interest in marketing against the impact on the person receiving it. The assessment has to be recorded.

    Consent

    Where a list was built from an opt-in sign-up, consent can be the basis instead. Consent has to be specific and freely given, and it can be withdrawn at any time.

  3. The ICO's direct marketing code sets the practical detail

    The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) publishes a direct marketing code of practice that sits alongside UK GDPR, and it sets out what a legitimate interests assessment needs to cover, what a privacy notice has to tell people, and how the right to object works. Under Article 21 of UK GDPR, a person can object to marketing at any point, and once they do, the business must stop.

    Guidance in this area is updated from time to time. Check ico.org.uk for the current version of the direct marketing code before relying on it.

  4. What an objection or opt-out means for the list

    When someone objects, or asks to stop receiving a catalogue, the address has to come off the active mailing list, and the business should record that the objection was received. Screening a list against the Mailing Preference Service before each mailing catches people who have already registered a general objection to addressed mail, which is a separate step from handling individual objections.

This section explains the general mechanism behind postal marketing law. For the current wording of the direct marketing code, see ico.org.uk.

Before you mail

Checklist: screening your list against the MPS

Screening a mailing list against the Mailing Preference Service (MPS) is not a one-off task done when the list is first built. It is something to repeat, and to be able to show you have done, each time a mailing goes out.

  • Screen the whole list

    Every record intended for that mailing run needs checking against the MPS suppression file.

  • Re-screen before each new mailing

    The MPS file is updated continuously as people register, so a list cleared for one catalogue can no longer be treated as clear for the next.

  • Apply the same check to bought-in or rented lists

    A list sourced from a broker or a partner carries the same suppression obligation as a list you built yourself.

  • Screen new contacts before their first catalogue goes out

    Check MPS status when someone is added to the list.

  • Keep a record of when and how each screening was done

    A dated record of the screening method is what you would need to show if a recipient complains to the ICO.

  • Remember MPS covers addressed mail only

    Registration stops addressed marketing mail; it does not stop mail sent to 'the occupier' or unaddressed items, which sit outside the scheme.

This checklist covers the screening step only, not the wider legal basis for mailing someone in the first place. The ICO's direct marketing guidance is updated from time to time, so check the ICO website for the current version before you rely on it.

Royal Mail size and weight bands, and what a mailing house does with them

Royal Mail sorts every mailed item into one of four size bands before it sets a price, and an item that is a few millimetres over a threshold pays the next band up regardless of what it actually weighs. The bands run, from smallest to largest, Letter, Large Letter, Small Parcel and Medium Parcel. A folded catalogue with more than a handful of pages will almost always fall into Large Letter or Small Parcel, so the format decided at the print stage is what fixes the postage cost.

The bands, in outline

The figures below are indicative, based on Royal Mail's published size and weight bands as of January 2025, and are given to explain the mechanism. Check Royal Mail's own website for the bands and prices that apply at the time of booking a mailing.

  • Large Letter: up to roughly 353mm x 250mm x 25mm, and up to around 750g.
  • Small Parcel: up to roughly 450mm x 350mm x 160mm, and up to around 2kg.
  • Medium Parcel: up to roughly 610mm x 460mm x 460mm, and up to around 20kg.

A saddle-stitched catalogue, one with its pages stapled through the fold, sits flatter and thinner than a perfect-bound one, where the pages are glued to a spine. Format choices made during production decide which band a catalogue lands in before postage is ever booked, and that decision is covered in Catalogue Print Production Explained.

What a mailing house does with format, fulfilment and delivery

A mailing house takes finished catalogues from the printer and prepares them for despatch. It checks each format against the current size bands, applies the address data, and consolidates volumes into the pallet and tray configurations Royal Mail requires for bulk mail rates. Where a catalogue is sent with other items, such as a covering letter or a sample, it also handles that fulfilment, because adding a piece changes the parcel's weight and dimensions and can move it into a higher band.

Correcting a format after printing is costly, because a batch that measures over a threshold has to be repackaged or re-mailed at the higher rate. Decisions made earlier, at the point covered in Producing a Catalogue: From Product Data to the Finished Book, such as page count, paper weight and binding method, are what keep a catalogue inside the band it was costed for.

Check the rules before your list goes to print

The ICO's direct marketing code and Royal Mail's size and weight bands both change from time to time, so check current guidance before your first mailing.