What’s Gmail’s “enforcement window” for new compliance changes?

Gmail's enforcement window for new compliance changes typically spans several months from announcement to full enforcement. For the 2024 bulk sender requirements, Gmail announced changes in late 2023, began soft enforcement in February 2024, and ramped up to full enforcement over subsequent months.

During the soft enforcement phase, Gmail may issue warnings, apply temporary filtering, or limit impact while monitoring compliance progress. This gives senders time to implement required changes without immediate severe consequences.

Full enforcement brings stricter penalties including message rejection, sustained spam filtering, and potential domain reputation damage. Smart senders treat announcement dates as implementation deadlines rather than waiting for enforcement. The enforcement window is a grace period, not permission to delay compliance until the last moment.