The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that website users must give active consent for cookies to be stored on their equipment.
The European Union’s Ruling
The European Union Court Rules that Active Consent is Required for Storing Cookies.
Big changes with regard to privacy are coming out of the EU. A press announcement from the Court of Justice of the European Union reveals that active consent is required by internet users for strong cookies to be placed on their equipment. The court ruled that active consent is not a pre-checked box that the user must deselect in order to refuse his or her consent.
This ruling was the judgment in Case C-673/17, Bundesverband der Verbraucherzentralen und Verbraucherverbände ? Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband eV v Planet49 GmbH.
Cookies, of course, are files that websites store on the site user’s computer that the website provider can access when the user visits the website again. The purpose is to facilitate transactions or navigation of the site or to access information about the user’s behavior.
Whether or not the information stored or accessed on the user’s equipment is personal data does not affect the decision.
The Court stated that consent must be specific. Therefore, a user selecting a button to participate in, say, some sort of promotion does NOT mean that the user gave his or her consent to the storage of cookies.
In addition, the Court decided that website service providers must inform users of the duration of the operation of cookies and whether or not third parties may have access to those cookies.
Want to learn more about compliance with EU regulations like GDPR? Contact RSI Security today.