Pre-checked checkbox does not validly constitute consent for the use of cookies
01-10-2019 Print this page
The consent for the use of cookies is not validly constituted if the user must deselect a pre-checked checkbox to refuse his or her consent. The information that the service provider must give to a website user includes the duration of the operation of cookies and whether or not third parties may have access to those cookies.
Curia press release: "In today’s judgment, the Court decides that the consent which a website user must give to the storage of and access to cookies on his or her equipment is not validly constituted by way of a prechecked checkbox which that user must deselect to refuse his or her consent.
That decision is unaffected by whether or not the information stored or accessed on the user’s equipment is personal data. EU law aims to protect the user from any interference with his or her private life, in particular, from the risk that hidden identifiers and other similar devices enter those users’ terminal equipment without their knowledge.
The Court notes that consent must be specific so that the fact that a user selects the button to participate in a promotional lottery is not sufficient for it to be concluded that the user validly gave his or her consent to the storage of cookies.
Furthermore, according to the Court, the information that the service provider must give to a user includes the duration of the operation of cookies and whether or not third parties may have access to those cookies."
Read the full press release here.
C‑673/17 - ECLI:EU:C:2019:801
