On 6 April 2020, the Data Protection Commission (DPC) published a report on the use of cookies and other tracking technologies (Report) and an updated guidance note on cookies and other tracking technologies (Guidance).

The Report is based on a review carried out by the DPC of websites in various sectors in Ireland, including insurance, banking, media, retail and the public sector. The purpose of the DPC’s report was to examine whether organisations are complying with the law, and, in particular, how organisations are obtaining the consent of users for the use of cookies. The majority of the 38 organisations examined were found to have potential compliance issues, particularly in relation to reliance on implied consent for setting non-necessary cookies; lack of choice for users to reject all cookies; bundling of consent for all purposes; and the possible misclassification of cookies as “necessary” or “strictly necessary“.  The Report gives an overview of the responses received highlighting what the DPC considers to be both “good” and “bad” practices that it encountered on the websites, and the Guidance provides website operators with guidance on how to comply with the rules relating to cookies, which are set out in the Irish ePrivacy Regulations.Continue Reading DPC publishes Report and Guidance on cookies following a “cross-sector and cross-size” sweep of website operators