The regulation of cookies and similar tracking technologies is rapidly evolving, not only in the European Union and United Kingdom but also in the United States and globally. If you have visited a website recently, you might have seen a banner or pop-up alerting you that the website uses cookies. Have you ever wondered why this was necessary or whether you need to implement one on your website?

At a basic level, the use of cookies and the collection of data through them is regulated by privacy and e-communication laws both in the United States and globally. From a European Union and United Kingdom perspective, the two primary sources of regulation are the GDPR/UK GDPR and local implementations of the ePrivacy Directive. Originally expected to be revised at almost the same time as GDPR, the revision of the ePrivacy Directive is still debated at the EU level – generating uncertainty for US businesses processing cookies from users in the European Union. This uncertainty is exacerbated by the impact of Brexit on the cookie regime in the United Kingdom, the adoption of different guidance by several EU data protection authorities and, above all, distinct enforcement actions across the different member states.

Join our US/EU Privacy and Cybersecurity experts for a discussion about how US businesses should rationalize their compliance efforts and mitigate their risk exposure under cookie laws.