European Data Protection Board Updates Guidelines On GDPR Consent

The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) has updated its Guidelines on GDPR consent to clarify that making access to a website conditional on accepting cookies - so-called "cookie walls" - does not constitute valid consent and that scrolling or swiping through a webpage cannot constitute consent either, under any circumstances.

Updated Guidelines

"Guidelines on consent under Regulation 2016/679" were first published in November 2017 by the EDPB's predecessor, the Article 29 Working Party, and formally adopted in April 2018. The EDPB has now produced a slightly updated version of those Guidelines which, apart from two important clarifications, essentially remain the same. The clarifications appear in the sections of the Guidelines on "Conditionality" and "Unambiguous indication of wishes" and concern, respectively, the validity of consent provided by individuals when interacting with "cookie walls" and the question of scrolling or swiping through a webpage or