September 2021

Overview EU Cookies Rules

Overview EU Cookies Rules
The rules governing cookies fall under the scope of two European laws: the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of April 2016 and the ePrivacy Directive
of July 2002. In May 2020, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) adopted guidelines for GDPR compliance that clarify what constitutes valid consent for
personal data processing in the EU.
Ecommerce Europe compiled a broad overview of the national regulations implementing the EU law, the circumstances under which consent is not necessary
for the use of cookies, and the use of cookie walls and implicit consent (e.g., scroll down). The first table summarises the key regulatory findings to provide a
comprehensive summary of the national rules. The second part of the document focuses on each country and provides a more detailed analysis of the cookie
rules and the implementation of the EU law. Moreover, the countries’ tables include information on the national Data Protection Authorities’ (DPA) positions and
on the court decisions (if available).
The summary points at the different use of cookie banners in the various countries and shows that some countries apply the EU law in a stricter way than others
even after the publications of the EDPB guidelines. Furthermore, not all national DPAs published clear positions on cookies, causing in some cases uncertainty
in the use of cookie banners.
We would like to thank the members for sharing their input and their knowledge on the cookie rules in each country. In case of missing or incomplete information,
external sources have been used. For any questions or comments, please send an email to maikejansen@ecommerce-europe.eu.