France’s latest Cookie Requirements

And what you need to do

🎯 Updated requirements

As you may know, many Data Protection Authorities across Europe (including France, Germany, Belgium, Italy and more) have aligned their rules on cookies and trackers with the requirements of the GDPR.

However, because cookies are also governed by the ePrivacy Directive, “cookie rules”, while mostly similar, can vary slightly from country to country. France is one such case.

What does this mean for me?

You will need to double-check how you collect consent to cookies and adapt to the latest requirements if you haven’t already.

Does this actually apply in my case?

If you’re based in France or have France-based users, you need to make sure you’re set up in line with the requirements below.

What happens if I don’t comply?

If you do not comply, the consent to the cookies you acquire can be considered invalid in the eyes of the law. This may put you in violation of the GDPR and at risk of penalties and fines of up to € 20,000,000.

How to adapt

For your convenience, we’ve prepared a summarised checklist of what you need to do in accordance with France’s Data Protection Authority.

As these rules are already “live”, we recommend setting up as soon as possible if you haven’t already.

Cookie banner

• Select both the “Explicit Accept and Customize buttons” and “Explicit Reject button” checkbox in the Privacy Controls and Cookie Solution configurator.
• Select the “List tracking purposes in the notice” checkbox in the Privacy Controls and Cookie Solution configurator.
• Enable “Offer granular control with per-category consent” in the Privacy Controls and Cookie Solution. See this guide and the demo here for proper set-up

Collection of consent

• Disable consent by scrolling and consent by continuing navigation via the Privacy Controls and Cookie Solution configurator.

Analytics cookies

•  Block analytics cookies prior to consent unless certain conditions are met.

Proof of consent

• Activate the Cookie and Consent Preference Log in your Privacy Controls and Cookie Solution*

*Because GDPR proof of consent is now mandatory in order for the consent to be considered valid, we strongly recommend upgrading your Privacy Controls and Cookie Solution to enable consent logging now to avoid having to ask your users to re-consent going forward.