Published: August 2019

Over the past year, regulators in France, Germany, Spain and the U.K. have published new guidance on the use of cookies and similar tracking technologies. This table outlines the respective differences and similarities between guidance from the above countries.

France: The new documentation of the French data protection authority, the Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés, published in October 2020 is composed of (1) updated provisions in relation to the CNIL cookie guidelines originally published in July 2019; (2) a series of recommendations on practical ways to collect consent; and (3) FAQs.

U.K.: In July 2019, the U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office published its new guidance on the use of cookies and other internet-tracking technologies.

Germany: In March 2019, the German conference of supervisory authorities published guidance on internet tracking. Note there is also additional German state-level guidance.

Spain: In November 2019, the Spanish data protection authority, the Agencia Española de Protección de Datos, published its guidance on the use of cookies and other internet-tracking technologies.