{"id":172615,"date":"2022-07-22T05:38:26","date_gmt":"2022-07-22T04:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/legalvision.co.uk\/?p=172615"},"modified":"2026-05-29T04:38:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T03:38:13","slug":"reporting-obligations-wrong-email","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legalvision.co.uk\/data-privacy-it\/reporting-obligations-wrong-email\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are Your Reporting Obligations if You Send an Email to the Wrong Recipient in England?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Businesses operating in the United Kingdom are subject to strict data protection obligations when sending emails that contain personal information. The UK General Data Protection Regulation<\/a> (UK GDPR), retained in domestic law following the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union, sets out the rules governing how personal data must be handled, including when it is transmitted by email. The Information Commissioner’s Office<\/a> (ICO) is the independent regulatory body responsible for enforcing these rules and has the power to issue significant financial penalties for breaches. Sending an email to the wrong recipient is one of the most common data protection mistakes the ICO identifies, and it can trigger reporting obligations and enforcement action. This article will explore the potential consequences of your business mistakenly sending an email to the wrong person so that your company can take steps to avoid the consequent fines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sending Emails to the Wrong Recipient<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The ICO website explicitly lists sending emails to the wrong recipient as a common data protection mistake. This is a particularly easy mistake, especially if your email software uses autofill. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, suppose you have two contacts named Peter. Upon typing ‘Peter’ into your email software, auto-fill automatically supplies the rest of the email address for the wrong one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While you can generally pick up on these errors by double-checking the email address, if you are particularly busy, you might accidentally send the email to the wrong person. If you send an email to the wrong recipient, you should try to recall the email. Some email software systems have a ‘recall’ option, allowing your computer to reclaim the email, so the recipient does not open it. However, message recall only works if the recipient has not opened the email yet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, the ‘recall’ feature does not always work. If this is the case, you should contact the recipient (by phone or email) and ask them to delete the email without reading it. If they confirm they have, and you have no reason to suspect otherwise, you can consider the problem resolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if I Cannot Remedy the Breach?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Suppose your attempts to recall the email or have the recipient confirm deletion have failed. In this case, you have a 72-hour deadline from sending the email to report the data breach to the ICO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Your organisation will need to notify the ICO where both of the below statements apply: <\/p>\n

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  1. a ‘personal data breach has occurred; and<\/li>\n
  2. that breach could likely result in a ‘risk to people’s rights and freedoms.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

    If the email contains personal information about another individual, sending this email to the wrong person means you have revealed their data without consent.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Let us consider two groups of examples below to clarify what types of emails risk rights and freedoms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n Continue reading this article below the form\n <\/i>\n<\/a>\n

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