Is cold calling legal in Singapore? What B2B sellers need to know.

Paragraph 1(1)(g) of the Eighth Schedule to the Personal Data Protection Act takes a message out of the Do Not Call rules when it is sent to an organisation, rather than to someone acting in a personal or domestic capacity, for a purpose of that organisation. The Personal Data Protection Commission gives the example of a marketing message to a company's office line. The exclusion falls away if the message also markets goods or services to the person for their own use.

The DNC Registry lets individuals opt out of marketing calls, text messages and faxes to their Singapore number. If a message is covered, the number must be checked against the registry within 21 days before you send it, unless the person has given clear and unambiguous consent. A list sold as already checked only helps if the checker tells you when they checked and how long the result stays valid.

Most of the PDPA's data protection obligations do not apply to business contact information: a person's name, job title, business phone, business address, business email or business fax number, and similar information, where they did not give those details solely for personal purposes. Details someone shared for personal reasons do not become business contact information just because that person also has a job title.

The Spam Control Act covers unsolicited commercial messages sent in bulk to an email address, mobile number or instant messaging account, where the message has a Singapore link such as a recipient in Singapore or a sender formed in Singapore. Bulk means more than 100 messages with the same or similar subject matter in 24 hours, more than 1,000 in 30 days or more than 10,000 in a year.

An email or text covered by the Act must be labelled as an advertisement: the letters <ADV> and a space go before the subject title, or, in a message with no subject field, in its first words. Its subject title and header information must not be false or misleading, and it must give an email address or phone number that reaches the sender. Messages sent to an instant messaging account are exempt from these labelling rules.

Every covered message, instant messages included, must also offer a working way to unsubscribe, with a statement saying how. Once someone unsubscribes, no further unsolicited commercial messages may be sent to them after 10 business days.

Singapore buyers are reached by email and LinkedIn. We do not call or text Singapore numbers: our callers phone buyers in the US and Canada only. Before a Singapore email campaign starts, we agree with you whether its volume crosses the bulk thresholds and how the labelling and unsubscribe rules will be met. Your customers and opt-outs go on the suppression list before launch.

Singapore's Do Not Call rules cover Singapore telephone numbers, so they do not apply to calls to US or Canadian numbers. Email is different: the Spam Control Act treats a Singapore company that authorises a bulk commercial email campaign as a sender, so its labelling and unsubscribe rules can apply wherever the buyers are. The buyers' own rules apply too, and Vivin's lead agreement names them: CASL, PIPEDA and the National Do Not Call List rules in Canada, and CAN-SPAM and the TCPA in the United States.

This is a plain-English guide, not legal advice. We read the Personal Data Protection Act, the Spam Control Act and the Personal Data Protection Commission's guide to the Do Not Call provisions on 4 October 2026. Rules change, so check the current versions on Singapore Statutes Online and the PDPC website, and take legal advice for anything unusual.