Need a data compliant cookie policy?

We cannot provide legal advice, and recommend consulting qualified legal counsel regarding your specific business and data processing situation. However, if your website uses cookies to collect the personal data of customers or visitors that reside in a country or region protected by data privacy regulations, especially if that data is shared or sold, then you most likely do need one.

Depending on what regulation(s) you need to comply with and what cookies your website uses, your cookie policy will contain some variances in information. It should be in clear language that is understandable to the average person. Most commonly required in a cookie notice or policy are the specific details about what data you collect using cookies, by what means, and for what purposes. It is also common to provide information about users’/consumers’ rights and how they can exercise them (and contact you to do so).

Having a clear and comprehensive cookie policy is also an excellent way to build trust with users and show respect for their rights and consent choices.

Just enter your website address for a free scan that will detect the cookies and other tracking technologies that you are using and let you know if they are being deployed in a compliant way.

We cannot provide legal advice, and recommend consulting qualified legal counsel regarding your specific business and data processing situation. You should also review the cookie policy requirements of whichever privacy regulations are relevant to you (e.g. for the GDPR). However, there are a number of types of information that are commonly required in a cookie policy. Note that a cookie policy and privacy policy are not the same, though a cookie policy can be part of a broader privacy policy.

A cookie policy should be:

• presented in a format that is transparent, concise, understandable, and easily accessible
• written in clear, plain language (especially if children’s data is processed and privacy information must include them)
• delivered in a timely manner (note that under some regulations, users must be informed before providing or declining consent, and both of these things must happen before data is collected)
• provided free of charge

Your cookie policy’s contents will be specific to your organization’s regulatory responsibilities and data processing, however, for your website it should contain:

• the different types and categories of cookies in use
• duration of each cookie and tracker (how long they remain active on users’ browsers)
• categories of personal data/information that each cookie collects and processes
• purpose of each cookie (whether it’s for necessary functions, statistics, marketing, etc.)
• third parties with which each cookie shares personal data
• countries/regions that each cookie sends personal data to (if relevant)
• information about how users can provide, decline, change or review their consent to your website’s cookie usage

There are four main categories of cookies:

• necessary (or essential) cookies
• preference cookies
• statistics cookies
• marketing cookies

Often consent is not required for necessary cookies, as they are needed to make a website function. Their use and data processed is benign and not valuable for marketing, for example. The other kinds of cookies are more likely to require user consent under many regulations, and you should review exactly which types and specific cookies your website uses, and which regulation(s) apply to you to determine the consent management solution you need.

They are not the same, though a cookie policy can be a part of a broader privacy policy. A privacy policy includes all the different ways your website and/or business might be collecting, processing, and storing data from users, both offline and online, whereas a cookie policy is specifically about the cookies and other tracking technologies embedded on your website that process personal data from customers and visitors. This is why websites often include both, with the cookie policy as a subsection of their privacy policy.

Another difference is that the cookie policy made need to be updated much more often, as websites are constantly updated, technologies change, and cookies and their use are dynamic (often changing for users with repeated visits to the site).

A consent management solution like Cookiebot CMP enables you to detect and manage all the cookies and trackers on your website on a regular basis. It will also block the use of cookies until consent has been obtained, depending on relevant privacy regulations, and generate an automated cookie policy for you to use on your website.

The requirement to notify users about data collection and processing is a standard one, and this includes cookie usage. This is what a cookie policy (and a broader Privacy Policy) does. Data privacy regulations provide consumers with certain rights, and even if these rights differ among regulations, the requirement to notify users about processing of their personal data, as well as their rights and how to exercise them is also standard.

Even if a website does not directly or substantially make money from data processing, if personal data is collected using cookies, there is a good chance privacy compliance is required, and the use of a cookie policy is part of that. The transparency a privacy notice provides and its demonstration of respect for users’ rights and consent choices also builds trust and encourages higher engagement and long-term relationships.

With Cookiebot CMP installed, your website will be scanned monthly (or more often if you prefer), detecting and controlling cookies in use per relevant data privacy requirements. It will also generate a custom cookie policy for your website that is not just generic, but will be complete and regularly updated as your cookie usage changes, providing transparency and control to your users when exercising their data privacy rights. This cookie policy can be installed in your privacy policy or on a separate page, helping you meet your regulatory responsibilities for data privacy and building trust with users at the same time.

Under the GDPR, legal bases or the “lawfulness of processing” are legally acceptable reasons for companies or other organizations to collect and process personal data, for example by using cookies.

User consent is one legal basis, though the GDPR lists six in total. A “data subject” is a person whose personal data is processed, e.g. ecommerce customers, website visitors, app users, etc.

• the data subject (e.g. user) has given consent
• to fulfill a contract with the data subject
• to comply with a legal obligation to which the data controller (e.g. company) is subject
• to protect the vital interests of the data subject or of another natural person
• in the public interest, or where the data controller is exercising official authority
• legitimate interests pursued by the data controller or a third party, e.g. for individual, commercial or societal benefit

Legitimate interest is often used to justify data processing, but can be difficult to prove adequately. The safest legal basis for many types and purposes of data processing is obtaining and securely managing user consent, as with a consent management solution.

Generally, personal data can refer to any information that relates to an individual that would enable that person to be directly or indirectly identified. It could mean obvious data like names, ID numbers, or email addresses, or less obvious data that may not be identifiable except combined with other data, like IP addresses or browser cookie information.

There are four types of cookies that help websites to function, as well as enabling analytics, marketing, and user experience customization, among other functions. Many of these collect personal data and require user consent under many data privacy laws.

There is also an additional category of “sensitive” personal data, which is information that is identifying, but could also cause harm if misused. This can include data like gender, religious beliefs, political affiliation, or medical information. Some technical information like biometric or geolocation data can also qualify if the intent is to use it to identify a person.

We cannot provide legal advice, and recommend consulting qualified legal counsel regarding your specific business and data processing situation.

Overall, it is important to know what regulations you need to comply with. Your responsibilities may differ under the UK GDPR compared to the EU’s GDPR or the privacy laws in the United States, for example. Often consent is not needed for necessary or essential cookies, but it is needed for other types. It is important to know which cookies your website uses and for what purposes, and to communicate that in your cookie policy, in addition to obtaining consent where needed.

However, in addition to legal requirements, being transparent with users about data collection and use, as well as requesting and respecting their consent choices creates great user experiences, which build trust with your company and help develop higher engagement and longer-term relationships.

For companies doing business in multiple regions or countries, it is entirely possible that you may need to comply with multiple regulations. Your cookie policy would need to reflect that. It can be possible to use geolocation functions on your website to show regional and regulation-specific information to users depending on where they are from.

Achieving compliance with the GDPR would be quite different from privacy compliance with the state-level laws in the United States, for example, due to their specific requirements and different models for consent. We cannot provide legal advice and recommend consulting qualified legal counsel regarding your specific business and data processing situation.

A consent management solution like the Cookiebot CMP can scan, detect and present all of the cookies and tracking technologies your website is using, and from there you can use that information to auto-generate and maintain your cookie policy so that it complies with relevant privacy regulations.

We cannot provide legal advice or guarantee privacy compliance with any regulation, and recommend consulting qualified legal counsel regarding your specific business and data processing situation. However, knowing which regulations you need to comply with is important, and what their requirements are regarding consumer rights, notification, consent, and data use. Also knowing what cookies and other tracking technologies are in use on your website is important to ensure correct consent can be obtained. Then all of this information can be accurately and comprehensively presented on your website and maintained in your cookie policy.

Ensuring that users are clearly informed about your organization and contacting you, the processing of their data, their rights, and their consent choices is important, as is presenting all choices equally. Dark patterns and other elements to nudge or trick users into consenting should not be used.

Additionally, ensure that only as much data as is necessary is collected and processed only for the purposes communicated. Ensure data is kept accurate and only stored for as long as it is needed to fulfill the processing purpose. Maintain the required standards of security and privacy, and ensure processes are in place to uphold accountability.

A consent management platform (CMP) can help you not only obtain and store consent correctly, but can also help you ensure that you provide and maintain accurate and up to date information about data processing services in use (e.g. cookies) in your cookie policy.

That doesn’t have to happen, though we cannot make guarantees on the performance of individual CMP implementations. There are many ways to optimize your consent management platform (CMP) to increase consent rates and data flow. Having a great user interface that matches your corporate branding, has clear messaging and user-friendly functionality is important. Making it easy for users to understand your data processing and make consent choices is also very valuable.

The Cookiebot CMP also has tools like analytics to help you analyze the CMP’s performance and optimize it to maximize data capture. It should also be noted that many premium advertisers are increasingly insisting on proof of consent before doing business with companies, so not obtaining correct consent can affect ad revenues.

The Free plan does not include the following Premium plan standard features:

• customize banner
• customize declaration
• multiple languages
• data export
• geolocation
• Cross-domain Consent Sharing
• consent statistics
• internal domain alias for development, test and staging

Check out our Plans & Pricing page to get more information or do a full comparison.

We don’t have any contracts for Cookiebot CMP and there are no hidden fees or long-term commitments. You can cancel your subscription at any time.

It depends on your business needs and the number of domains and subpages you have.

Check out our Plans & Pricing page to get more information for your company’s specific needs.

Yes, at any time you can cancel your free trial or your plan if you previously signed up. You can do this via your “My account” page. Downgrade or cancel actions take effect at the end of your current billing period.