The Article 29 Working Party Releases Draft Guidelines on Consent and Transparency Under The GDPR

On December 12, 2017, the European Union's Article 29 Working Party ("Working Party") released two new guidelines on consent (WP 259) and transparency (WP 260) that it had adopted late in November 2017. These guidelines are open for comments through January 23, 2018. The Working Party will add a FAQ section in the final version of the consent guidelines.

Since the transparency guidelines are more of a tool that companies will use when preparing their data protection mechanisms and compliance documents, this article focuses on the consent guidelines, which reflect the Working Party's interpretation of the key consent requirements under the GDPR.

Why Does Transparency Matter?

Under the GDPR, transparency applies to how companies inform individuals about their processing activities, how they communicate with them about their rights, and how they facilitate the exercise of these rights. Transparency is really about a company communicating its approach to personal