Guidance on Cookie Law in the UK

These Cookie Law Guidance Notes address the important privacy and consent requirements imposed on website owners operating websites within the EU and provide practical guidance for compliance.

The law is currently comprised of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 and the GDPR. Under the law, anyone operating a website in the EU must obtain users’ consent for the placing of all but strictly necessary cookies (and similar technologies) on users’ computers and devices.

These Guidance Notes reflect important improvements in the law governing privacy and data protection, not least the increased breadth of the definition of “personal data” and the increased importance of obtaining individuals’ consent ushered in by the GDPR. Providing clear, detailed information about your use of cookies to users is of great importance, as is offering them genuine control over the cookies that you use. In these Guidance Notes we show you some useful examples of how this can be achieved.

Brief reference is also made in this document to the (currently draft) EU ePrivacy Regulation. This was planned to enter into force on 25 May 2018 alongside the GDPR, but has not. Consequently, the PECR remain in place. These Guidance Notes will be updated as and when more information about the ePrivacy Regulation becomes available.

Once you have purchased access to the appropriate document folder click on the “Download Document” link below. You will be asked what you want to do with the file. It is recommended that you save the document to a location of your choice prior to viewing.