This article was published on 20 Jan 2020. Software and regulations change, so please check details before you decide.
Once again the CJEU has issued a ruling on tracking. Let us say up front that we are not lawyers; we too are working our way from ruling to ruling and act in good faith on the information available. If you want to be completely sure, we generally recommend consulting a specialised lawyer or a professional data protection officer.
So what exactly is an opt-in?
An opt-in “asks” the visitor to your website: “Hello, we use the following tracking codes. If that is fine with you, please accept them once.” Unlike an opt-out, the codes or scripts are only loaded once your visitor has agreed. After all, you would not simply walk into someone else’s house without being invited in first. Admittedly, the comparison is not perfect, but in principle you ask for permission first 😉
What matters for me when tracking and using cookies?
In principle there are cookies without which a shop or website cannot work at all, for example, and these may still be used.
According to e-recht24.de, as of 13.01.2020, this applies to
- Shopping cart cookies
- Login cookies
- Cookies for country and language selection
- Cookies that remember which cookies were allowed in the opt-in
All other cookies, such as those set by a Facebook pixel, Google Analytics, Google Ads and so on, should ideally run via an opt-in from now on.
If you are not sure whether your website uses one of the tracking tools highlighted here in red, you can check this with the Tag Assistant plugin for the Google Chrome browser, among other options. You can find the browser plugin here.
We are also happy to check your website for you personally.
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