Cookies

Compliance with 2003 EU privacy directive relating to ‘cookies’

In May 2011 Brussels introduced amendments to the 2003 EU e-privacy directive requiring websites to gain user consent for the use of tracking technologies, the most common of which are ‘cookies’.

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small text file that is stored on the user’s computer and can identify them.
These cookies are only used for general analytics purposes, and are not used to gather data on an individual or for resale.

In an updated version of its advice for websites, on the eve of the directive launch – on how to use cookies – the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has said that websites can assume that users have consented to their use of them.