The E-Privacy Directive, or EU Directive 2009/136/EC to its friends, has now been enshrined and enforced in the UK for nearly two months. Love it, hate it or know nothing about it, if your site uses cookies then you need to be both aware and compliant. Sites that are found to be in violation could face fines of up to £500,000.
Simply put, the new law is designed to protect users from unwarranted intrusion and requires websites to gain the consent of users before placing ‘non-essential’ cookies on their system. This can be achieved in a number of ways but the simplest and most popular is the installation of a pop-up message inviting the user to grant, or refuse, permission.
The law leaves a little room for interpretation between ‘essential’ and ‘non-essential’ cookies, but for the most part those classed as essential are cookies used for shopping carts, checkouts and online banking services. The non-essential cookies are those used for analytics, advertising, social networking and marketing purposes.
So, even if your site only uses Google analytics you are still serving cookies and need to both let the user know and seek their consent. Do you know whether your website is up-to-date and in line with EU legislation? Contact us today and we’ll guide you through the process and make sure your site is E-Privacy Directive compliant.
EU Directive 2009/136/EC - It's a cookie thing