Does your website meet the new cookie guidance?

does your website meet the new cookie guidance?

Why wouldn’t my cookies meet the guidance? Didn’t we cover that with GDPR?

 

There’s now a new regulation that we need to be aware of that runs alongside GDPR called the ePrivacy Regulation.

 

GDPR is, in essence, about ‘general’ personal data storage and processing. However, it was felt that there needed to be something more specific that managed the internet, data acquisition and spamming etc. Cue the update of the ePrivacy Directive.

 
One of the major aspects of ePrivacy updates is the clarification of cookie use that GDPR still left quite hazy. Under the new regulations, you have to gain consent to use non-essential cookies on your website. This is why you have to accept cookies on every site you go on.
 

Non-Essential Cookies are cookies that are not necessary to ‘run’ you site. For example, if you have an online shop, cookies are necessary to make the shopping basket work. These are called essential cookies and you do not need consent for essential cookies because otherwise the customer couldn’t the site in the way they wanted to.

 

Examples of non-essential cookies, cookies that are not essential to the running of the site but are helpful to the site owner, include:

 

  • Google Analytics, Hotjar etc
  • Facebook Pixels, LinkedIn
  • Live chats or embedding videos

If you use anything like this you need to gain consent and you need to make sure you are offering the web visitor a simple and easy way to turn these cookies off if they would like to when they first land on your site.

 

The other BIG change under the ePrivacy directive is that implied cookie consent is no longer acceptable. ‘If you continue to browse our website we assume you are happy with our cookie use’  should not be something that we see anymore and pre ticked boxes, or forcing you to accept before continuing, is not longer acceptable.

 

It is a relatively new piece of legalisation, that has been overtaken by the pandemic somewhat, and it is early days. However, it is something on the radar. Vueling Air has recently been fined £30,000 for unlawful management of cookies on its website (due to the ‘implied consent’) and the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) is running a campaign to report your cookie concerns. The last thing you need is to be reported by a consumer over your cookies!

 

The reguations changed earlier this year and although we have been using a compliant cookie consent since then on our new websites and incorporating cookies into our privacy policies, we have been researching and looking for packages that we can offer our clients that will meet all of regulation requirements. For example, Privacy Policies now need to include a Cookie Policy and the cookie policy should clearly list, ideally in a table format:

 

  • the cookies on your site
  • what they are used for
  • the data they collect

After much searching, it’s not as easy as it sounds, Warwick has found a provider that offer the quality and future support necessary to meet the new cookie guidance.

 

To help you check this off you, and keep your website in line with current regulations, we have put together a WordPress Cookie Review Package that includes:

Identification of all of the Cookies present on your website

Removal of all unnecessary cookies and associated data

Privacy policy update to ensure your cookies are covered

Cookie consent for your website to meet the regulations

All of this for just £149 + vat.

*Special Offer- 50% off until 31st December 2020.

 

**There will be a small annual renewal fee.

 

If you’d like to talk to us about getting your cookies sorted contact us today and we can go through it all with you.

 

For more information about Cookies and the new regulations visit the Information Commissioners Office website.

 

To check your GDPR compliance, read our ‘GDPR Compliance in 10 Easy Steps’ Blog.

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