On 6 March 2020 the Czech Office for Personal Data Protection
(the "Office") imposed a record fine of CZK 6,000,000
(approx. EUR 250,000) on an infringer who spammed almost 500,000
e-mail addresses with unsolicited commercial communication. The
infringer, a used-car dealership, had already been fined by the
Office for the same delict in the past. When imposing the record
fine, the Office considered not only that the infringer is a repeat
offender, but also that the number of recipients of the spam was
large, and that the failure to comply with the legal requirements
regarding collection of contact information and consumer consents
to receive commercial communication was a systematic problem rather
than an isolated incident. According to the Office, the problem
stemmed from the infringer's inability to prove the existence
of consumer consents, and the use of insufficient procedures for
obtaining them as evidenced by the Office's local
investigation. In addition, the
