Article 29 Working Party Provides Guidance On "Cookie Consent"

On 2 October 2013, the Working Party (the "Working Party"), an independent European advisory body on data protection and privacy comprised of a representative of the national data protection authorities of the EU Member States, adopted an opinion providing guidance on obtaining consent for the use of cookies (the "Opinion").

A cookie is considered as any information stored in the users' terminal device, for instance on a PC or mobile device. Such information is used for various purposes (from enhanced functionalities to analytics, targeted advertising and product optimisation).

In a previous opinion (WP 194 of 7 June 2012), the Working Party distinguished between types of cookies and analysed whether consent was always required (See, VBB on Belgian Business Law, Volume 2012, No. 6, p. 6-7, available at www.vbb.com). Despite the fact that Article 5.3 of Directive 2002/58/EC (the "ePrivacy Directive"), allows for certain exemptions, the Working Party is of the