The Arnotts and Brown Thomas department stores’ operator has been ordered to pay €2,000 for unwanted spam marketing emails.

The company pleaded guilty to five charges. Two involved unsolicited emails without consent to two women on December 3^rd 2024 and February 28^th 2025, who had not given prior consent to receive them. The remaining three offences related to direct marketing emails to three men on May 31^st 2025, July 4^th 2025, and August 28^th 2025, which lacked a valid address to enable them to “opt out” and request that the communications cease.

The Data Protection Commission brought the prosecution in Dublin District Court against Brown Thomas Arnotts Limited, which faced 21 charges under S.I. No. 336/2011 (European Communities (Electronic Communications Networks and Services) (Privacy and Electronic Communications) Regulations 2011).

From 25 May 2018, processing of personal data in the context of certain electronic communications (including, amongst other things, unsolicited electronic communications made by phone, e-mail, and SMS) is subject to both the general laws set out in the GDPR and the specific laws set out in the “ePrivacy Regulations” (S.I. No. 336 of 2011, under which the ePrivacy Directive 2002/58/EC (as amended by Directive 2006/24/EC and 2009/136/EC) was transposed into Irish law).

Brown Thomas Arnotts Limited pleaded guilty to the charges at Dublin Metropolitan District Court on September 8^th of this year.

Noting the guilty plea, the court applied the Probation of Offenders Act to the company, ordering it to pay a charitable donation of €1,000 to local charity Little Flower Penny Dinners and €1,000 towards the legal fees of the Data Protection Commission (DPC), which took the case.

The case has been adjourned until October 5^th to confirm that the payments have been received and to finalise the matter. The prosecution withdrew the remaining 16 counts.

In a statement, Brown Thomas Arnotts said it “acknowledges and accepts today’s outcome at Dublin District Court. We deeply regret any frustration caused to a small number of our customers who were unable to unsubscribe from our email communications for a period in 2025”.

It said the issue was caused by a “technical fault with a third-party software provider” which meant that “some requests to unsubscribe didn’t go through as they should have”. Brown Thomas Arnotts added that “at no point was any customer’s data compromised”.

Welcoming the outcome of the proceedings, the DPC said that it should serve as a reminder to all organisations engaged in any form of electronic marketing that non-compliance with the regulations could result in a criminal prosecution.

 

NB – This is a guide for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. If you have an issue requiring legal advice, please contact any of the team at Nolan Farrell & Goff LLP, whose numbers can be found on our website www.nfg.ie, or email info@nfg.ie.