B2B cold calling and email rules in Canada, Belgium and France

In short: calling businesses is generally allowed in Canada, Belgium and France, as long as you identify yourself and respect anyone who asks not to be contacted again. Email is stricter and differs by country: Canada requires consent (which can be implied), France allows B2B email related to the person's job with an easy opt-out, and Belgium generally requires prior consent when you write to a named person.

This article is general information, not legal advice. Rules change and depend on your situation — check with a lawyer before launching a campaign.

Canada

• Calls. Business-to-business calls are exempt from the National Do Not Call List rules. The CRTC's other telemarketing rules — such as identifying who is calling and on whose behalf, and honouring requests not to be called again — are good practice and apply in many cases.
• Email. Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) requires consent for commercial electronic messages. Consent can be express or implied — for example an existing business relationship, or an email address that is conspicuously published (such as on a company website) when your message relates to the person's role and there's no statement refusing such messages. Every email must identify the sender and include a working unsubscribe link.
• Québec. Law 25 sets strict rules for personal information, including transparency about how you collect and use it. The Charter of the French Language requires commercial material aimed at Québec to be available in French — one more reason to prospect in French first.

Belgium

• Calls. The "Do Not Call Me" list protects consumers; calls to businesses are not covered by it. When you call a named person, the GDPR still applies: you need a legitimate interest, you must tell people where you got their details if they ask, and you must stop when they object.
• Email. Belgian law generally requires prior consent for marketing email. There are exceptions — for example existing customers for similar products, or impersonal company addresses such as info@ — but email to a named person's professional address is usually treated as needing consent. Many B2B programs in Belgium therefore lead with phone and LinkedIn, and use email after a first conversation.

France

• Calls. The Bloctel opposition list protects consumers; B2B calls are allowed. The GDPR applies to the data of the people you call.
• Email. B2B prospecting by email is allowed without prior consent if the message relates to the recipient's professional activity, the person was informed when their address was collected, and every email offers an easy way to opt out.
• Data retention. The French data protection authority (CNIL) recommends deleting prospect data three years after the last contact if there has been no response.

Habits that keep outreach compliant everywhere

• Identify yourself and the company you represent in every call and email
• Keep an internal do-not-contact list and honour it across every channel
• Include a working unsubscribe link in every email
• Record where each contact came from and the legal basis you rely on
• Collect only the data you need, and delete it when it's no longer useful
• Write to people about things that relate to their job

How Pratura handles it

Our SDRs work from approved scripts and templates, log every interaction in your CRM, and apply the do-not-contact and consent rules of each market — in English, French and Dutch. See how our sales development teams work.