Treat Digital Blog

EU Cookie legislation: the way the cookie crumbles

by James Tuke | 14.05.2012

Web Development /

News /

EU Cookie legislation deadline: 25th May 2012

I'm sure you’re aware that new legislation is coming into effect later this month (25th May 2012) which obliges all website owners in the EU to (i) warn their visitors of the use of cookies and (ii) to enable visitors to opt out of cookie use if they prefer.

Just in case you are not aware what a cookie is, it's a short piece of computer code that a website places on your browser to help the website function fully. Cookies are as good as ubiquitous on the web but some are more intrusive than others. A cookie might be used on an eCommerce site, or a site that asks users to login (e.g. Amazon). Website visitor tracking tool Google Analytics uses cookies to help it collect data. The more intrusive ones are those which monitor your online behaviour and use the information to serve targeted advertising.

There are still questions around the implementation of the EU legislation but it is generally accepted that action does need to be taken to ensure a website is compliant. For background reading, the International Chamber of Commerce has produced guidelines for website owners and the Information Commissioners Office (ICO), who are policing the legislation in the UK, have various pages dedicated to the subject.

Our research shows that some organisations have done nothing more than update their privacy policy text and may find this is sufficient; others have gone for the comprehensive approach which costs £000s - and some hope to get away with doing nothing at all! As there’s still some uncertainty around the practicality of the legislation it’s difficult to predict who, if anyone, will be targeted by the ICO, but we believe it’s best to go for the (more cost-effective) middle ground.

So what do you need to do, if you haven't already taken action?

You'll need to make your own checks, but we've applied what in our view is a good ‘mid-tier’ fix on our own website. The solution we have applied is:

• Audit the website to identify all cookies
• Provide a full list of cookies and definitions on a dedicated web page and explain what the visitor's options are
• As appropriate, update the privacy policy wording on your website too
• Implement a standard dialogue box that appears on every page of your website until the visitor responds (you'll have seen one as you arrived on our website)

If you'd like to compare notes with us please get in touch by telephoning +44 20 7256 7651 or emailing hello@treatdigital.com.