Cookie Consent Explained –

Achieve Compliance With

Seers CMP

Cookie consent is a legal requirement that mandates websites to obtain

visitors’ consent before placing cookies on their devices. Consent is
obtained via a cookie banner that enables visitors to accept or decline
cookies on the website.

Your website must provide users based in Europe with the ability to
manage the activation of cookies and trackers that collect personal data. To
comply with the strict cookie laws, it is very important for businesses to get
it right as cookies are subject to robust data rules.

In this blog post, we’ll cover the most critical points to understand
regarding the EU’s GDPR, cookies, and data privacy compliance on your
website and how Seers’ consent management platform (CMP) takes care of
them all.

Go ahead and learn all about it.

What Are Cookies?
Cookies are small text files containing scripts. These scripts store user data
for the proper functioning of the website.

Like the password and username, which are used to recognise your
computer as you use a computer network. Cookies are used to improve the
user’s experience with the website.

GET COOKIE CONSENT

What Is Cookie Consent?

Cookie consent, in simple terms, is a permission requirement that website
operators must obtain from their visitors in order to activate cookies that
handle personal data on their site. Some of these data are considered
personally identifiable, therefore the website should notify visitors and
obtain their consent before utilising them.

Cookie consent refers to the interaction between your website and end-
users in which they decide whether to allow trackers and cookies to be
activated to process their personal data.

Under the cookie consent requirements of GDPR, LGPD, and CCPA, it is

mandatory for websites to take users’ consent when they land on your
website. To comply with these laws it is important to automate this process
with most effective solutions.

How Does Cookie Consent Work?

Cookie consent works by giving visitors the choice of consent to refuse or
set their cookie preferences for that website. When visitors first visit a
website, they are frequently asked to consent to cookies via site banners
or pop-ups.
One thing to remember is that the cookie consent laws differ based on site
visitor location. For example, non-essential cookies require approval from
visitors in the European Economic Area (EEA) before a website can use
them. On the other hand, visitors outside the United States do not need to
consent to use cookies.

Why Is Cookie Consent Important?

Data protection authorities scrutinise a website’s cookie consent
mechanism and might penalise you if you don’t comply. On the other hand,
end-users and consumers are becoming more aware. The level of data
privacy of a brand is becoming more closely related to its reputation and
ability to attract customers.

Requirements Of Cookie Consent

Laws
The Cookie Law is a privacy law that mandates websites to obtain visitors’
consent before storing or retrieving any information on their devices.

What Are The Requirements Of Cookie Consent Laws

In The EU?

The EU Cookie Legislation started as a directive from the European Union

to protect online privacy. Since then, all EU countries have adopted some
variation on the cookie policy.

Website owners should do the following to comply with ePrivacy, GDPR in

the EU while using cookies:

 Except for cookies that are strictly essential, obtain user consent
before placing cookies on a visitor’s device.
 Before requesting consent, provide accurate and explicit information
in plain language about the data each cookie collects and its purpose.
 Keep track of the permissions you’ve gotten from users.
  Allow users to utilise your service even if they have disabled the use
of certain types of cookies.
 Make it as simple for users to withdraw their consent as it was for
them to grant it in the first place.

What Is Cookie Consent In Compliance

With GDPR?
Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), prior consent is
required to process and collect data. GDPR further requires the website to
have a crystal clear consent policy.

And the user must know that in what manner the site will use the acquired
personal data. In this regard, explicit consent must be obtained with the
availability of opt-in and opt-out options.

What Laws Require Cookie Consent?

Cookie Consent is required under the laws of the USA, EU, UK, Brazil etc.

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Cookie

Consent:

The GDPR is the data privacy and protection law requiring explicit consent
prior to collection or using personal data. It also requires telling users the
purpose for the collection of data.

A cookie is considered personal data if it comprises information about an

identifiable individual or mixes with other information to generate data
concerned with identifiable information.

The process of obtaining consent must be easy and unambiguous, which

means that GDPR cookie banners must be easy, containing the purpose of
collecting data. The Law applies to all EU countries. After Brexit the UK has
more or less the same rules under GDPR-K.Build customers Trust and get
Compliant with the world’s leading Cookie Consent Banner, 50,000+
businesses use Seers CMP to meet their GDPR, PECR, CCPA,ePrivacy and
LGPD obligations.

EPrivacy Directive Cookie Consent:

Preceded by GDPR, the eprivacy directive has key measures. This directive
also requires the consent of the user before issuing the cookie. The
directive applies to the websites of EU countries.

Seers provide highly customisable cookies under the CMP solution in

compliance with ePrivacy, GDPR, LGPD, ePrivacy and CCPA. Install in just
three minutes and start for free.

California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) And Cookie

Consent:

CCPA is a little different from GDPR because it allows businesses to collect

data of users before consent. But on the condition of opting out from the
collection process.

CCPA cookie banner should include information about the cookie, the
purpose for collecting information, and the use of a cookie on the site. And
whether the site shares the information with the third party or
not. CCPA applies in the USA.In the case of minors, just like GDPR, it also
requires prior consent in child-friendly cookie banners. Seers CMP
offers Child privacy consent management in compliance with GDPR, PECR,
LGPD, CCPA and ePrivacy.

Lei Geral De Proteção De Dados (LGPD) And Cookie

Consent:

The LGPD applies in Brazil, and it also requires free, unambiguous, and
informed consent. Here data subjects have control over their personal
data.It also demands that data subjects be informed about data processing
in a clear, easy and concise manner.
Privacy And Electronic Communication Regulation
(PECR) And Cookie Consent:

Under PECR, user consent is required. It is similar to GDPR because it also

mandates the website owner to notify users about the cookie’s details.
Most importantly, it also requires prior consent.

Design your cookie consent banners in your own way with Seers highly
customisable cookie banners with various colours and fonts and designs in
compliance with GDPR, CCPA, LGPD, and ePrivacy.

Penalties For Non-Compliance With

Cookie Consent Laws
It is essential to be aware of implementing and securing your organisation’s
data privacy to avoid fines and legal action for non-compliance with cookie
consent laws.

What Are The Fines For Violating GDPR Cookie

Consent Laws?

Non-compliance with the GDPR can result in substantial fines in the EU.
One of the GDPR’s basic principles is that the legitimate basis for
processing consent violations might result in monetary penalties.

What Are The Highest Fines For Non-Compliance With

GDPR Cookie Consent Laws?

Companies have faced hefty penalties since the introduction of Europe’s

historic online-privacy regulation in 2018.

Spanish DPA (NOYB) fines Twitter and Vueling Airlines €30,000 for not
allowing users to reject cookies or manage cookie preferences. Also, a
privacy group, NOYB, launched a campaign in 2021 to examine the usage of
cookies on 10,000 of the most popular EU websites and register complaints
with regulators.

Furthermore, the French Data Protection Authority (CNIL)

penalised Google and Amazon a total of €135 million for putting
advertising cookies on users’ devices without their consent and for not
giving enough information about using cookies. CNIL also
fined Carrefour for similar cookie breaches.
Get a GDPR compliant cookie consent banner for your website and
minimise your legal risk.

How Can You Achieve Cookie

Consent?
Cookie consent is deceptively simple. When users visit your website, they
are presented with a cookie consent pop-up that allows them to “accept”
or “reject” cookies and other active tracking technologies on your site.

However, cookie consent appears to be simple on the front end but really
complex on the back end and nearly impossible to manage without the
help of a cookie consent tool like Seers Consent Management Platform.

What Are Cookie Consent Tools?

A cookie consent tool is a software installed on your website that

automates the cookie acceptance compliance process for managing end-
user consent for cookies and other tracking technologies on your domain
that process personal data. Website cookie consent is mandatory
under GDPR laws in the EU.

To achieve cookie consent, you need to be equipped with tools that give
you consented data and relevant information;

 Cookie Consent Banner

 Cookie Consent Notice
 Cookie Consent Pop-Ups
Cookie Consent Banners:

The cookie consent banners are notifications that appear when the user
first visits the website. Also containing information about cookies, the
website will use and also takes user consent before loading them. Is your
website cookie compliant? Implement the GDPR Cookie Consent Banner.
Start free with Seers.

Cookie Consent Notices:

It does not vary much from the cookie banner. Like the cookie consent
banner, it also appears when you land on the website.

Design your cookie consent banners in 29 languages, have colours of your

own choice and use your own logo with Seers. Sign up and Start for free.

Cookie Consent Pop-Ups:

Besides cookie consent banners and cookie banner notices, there are
cookie consent pop-ups. The cookie consent pop-ups are quite effective in
obtaining consent as they persistently pop up until or unless the user
rejects, accepts or selects the cookies.

Start for free and design your own cookie consent banners with Seers
highly customisable cookie consent solutions.

How Does The Cookie Consent Tool

Work?
These tools record the user response to the cookie consent banner on your
website and place cookies based on that response. If the user allows all
cookies, their browser will store them, and the cookie will not be stored if
the user denies it.

If they customise their cookie preferences, only the cookie categories they
have enabled will be set on their browser.
To comply with the requirements of cookie consent and key data privacy
legislation such as the GDPR, LGPD, and CCPA, you must be able to scan
your website and detect all cookies to regulate their activation based on
the consent choice of the end-user.
That’s why it really matters that your cookie consent tool uses cutting-edge
scanning technology.

What Should I Look For In Cookie

Consent Tools?
When looking for cookie consent tools, you should expect them to have a
lot more features, such as:

 A platform that manages visitor consent logs.

 A system that can address other consent issues, such as GDPR data
storage location consent.
 A dashboard that allows you to monitor all consent-related activity.
 A service that integrates smoothly with other Web platforms, such
as web hosting platforms or content management systems.
 A no-cost trial period or a tool that is completely free to use.
 Competitive pricing and simple payment options without lock-in
periods or upfront installation charges.

Seers Consent Management Platform (CMP) offers highly customisable

cookie banners, auto-update cookie policy, and enables blocking of
scripts. Start for free now.

Cookie Compliance Test

To comply with the GDPR cookie consent law, you must first know about all
of the cookies that your website employs. There are two methods to check
for anonymous cookies, trackers, and trojan horses on your website.

Method 1 – Manual Detection

One way is to check cookies from the browser manually. However, this is a
time-consuming process, and also, they’re notoriously tough to detect.
Method 2 – Automatic Detection

The other way is to use a cookie scanner. Use the free Seers CMP
compliance test to see if your website complies with the requirement of
cookie consent laws of GDPR.

Simply enter your domain’s URL to have Seers CMP do a free scan of your
website to detect all cookies and trackers on your subpages. The scanner
will check your website and send the report to your email address listing
them on your website.

Check your website with Seers CMP scanner for FREE today.

Prior & Explicit Consent

Prior consent is obtaining a user’s consent before placing any cookies on
their device that can be used to identify them. Under the European Union’s
privacy policy, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a website
must get the consent before collecting users’ data.

How To Implement Prior Consent?

You can achieve automatic blocking of cookies until prior consent has been
given simply by implementing Seers’ prior consent feature.
Seers blocks cookies and other trackers automatically but if you want to
implement it manually, please see our installation guide here.

Cookie Consent & Google Consent

Mode
Google Consent Mode manages all of your website’s favourite Google
services (Google Analytics and Google Ads) in one simple way: based on
your end-users’ consents and maintained automatically by Seers CMP in
full GDPR compliance.
How To Manage Cookie Consent With Google
Consent Mode?

Seers Consent Management solutions fully support and integrate with

Google Consent Mode, ensuring that your website complies with GDPR
without disrupting your analytics or marketing.

Suppose users refuse to accept cookies for statistics or marketing. In that

case, Google Consent Mode and Seers CMP allow your website to retain
vital aggregate and non-identifying measurements and to model data,
allowing you to display contextual ads rather than targeted ads, respecting
user privacy while improving website performance.
Google Consent Mode integrates seamlessly with Seers CMP to provide a
straightforward compliance solution for your entire website, including any
Google-run analytics and marketing initiatives.

Keep Up With The Latest Technologies,

Policies & Advancements In Cookie
Laws
Privacy and data protection regulations often change, sometimes
seemingly overnight. If you’re not paying attention, it’s easy to miss critical
changes that can affect your business.

How Can You Stay On Top Of Regulatory Changes?

There is a list of simplest ways to stay on top of evolving standards in your

business, which you can find below;

 Monitor regulatory agency websites

 Follow regulatory agencies on social media
 Subscribe to blogs & newsletters
 Join industry associations
 Attend conferences and webinars
 Implement cookie compliance software
Subscribe to Seers Privacy Newsletter to stay informed on the new
developments, enforcement, regulatory, and guidance news from all
around the globe.

Consent Management Platform

A consent management platform (CMP) helps businesses automate their
consent management processes making GDPR compliance easier.

Manage Cookie Consent With A Seers Consent

Management Platform

Seers is the leading Privacy & Consent Management Platform, helping

50000+ businesses in achieving compliance all around the globe.

It protects consumers’ privacy rights to deploy the industry’s best data

privacy management practices and focuses on delivering high-value
compliance solutions with over 1.2bn managed consents.
Seers cookie consent management tool is easy to use, with a plug-and-play
approach that requires no on-site manual deployment. It also has a high
degree of customisability to integrate seamlessly with your website’s
theme, design, and style.

Get access to a wide range of GDPR, PECR, CCPA, and ePrivacy compliance
solutions designed to make compliance easy.

 Automatic integration

Seers Consent Management Platforms allows you to add a line of JavaScript

to the top of your source code. Your website’s compliance with most key
data privacy legislation throughout the world will be automated in
seconds.

 Geotargeting

The geotargeting functionality of Seers CMP ensures that your domain

always displays the appropriate cookie consent solutions to end-users
based on their location and the applicable data privacy legislation in their
country or region.

 Cookie Policy Generator

The GDPR emphasises data processing transparency. It requires a website

to be open and honest with its visitors about the data it collects, processes,
and stores. As a result, a website’s privacy policy ensures GDPR
compliance.

The Policy Pack from Seers allows you to quickly and easily build a cookie
and privacy policy for your website. There are form fields with pertinent
questions that you must fill out. The tool then generates a suitable policy
for your website, which you can copy and paste.

Seers’ cookie policy generator, like the privacy policy generator, makes
creating a cookie policy for your website simple and straightforward.

Create your cookie policy for your website now.

Follow these steps to create a cookie policy.

 Google Consent Mode

Seers is one of the few CMPs globally that smoothly connects with Google
Consent Mode, which allows you to operate your preferred services (like
Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager) based on the state of your end-
users.

Seers CMP, the unrivalled cookie consent solution on the market,

automates the entire technical and legal process of cookie consent on your
website, allowing you to showcase trust-building data privacy technology
to critical consumers looking to be treated with respect online.

Seers Consent Management tools help you strike a better balance between
data privacy and data-driven business on your website, and it’s easy to set
up with only a few clicks.
Seers CMP ensures compliance with data privacy legislation such as GDPR,
LGPD, CNIL, POPIA, CCPA/CPRA, PIPEDA, APPI, PIPA, PIPL, etc. It integrates
with Google Consent Mode to ensure data privacy while preserving
analytics and marketing.

 WCAG 2.1 Accessibility banner

Seers CMP aims to comply with the WCAG 2.1 criteria for all layers of
cookie banners. This implies that all default cookie banners comply with
these requirements and are updated when needed.

By creating an engaging user experience, businesses can significantly

increase opt-in rates while also enhancing the transparency of their
processing operations.

Read more about WCAG 2.1 Accessibility Feature

 Child Consent Management

The Seers Child Privacy Consent Management Platform (CPCMP) feature

allows children or their parents or guardians depending on their age, to
provide informed consent for the website they are visiting to handle
personal data via cookies and operating scripts.

The CPCMP asks the end-user to self-certify their age before viewing the
website’s content, and then displays age-appropriate information about
the scripts and cookies used on the client’s website.

Learn more about child privacy and consent management

Read about Seers participation in ICO Regulatory Sandbox

Read the ICO’s Sandbox Seers Report: Benefits Of Consent Management

Platform For Child Privacy

Frequently Asked Questions About

Cookie Consent
Do I Need Cookie Consent?

Yes, suppose your website uses cookies (which all websites do) and is
accessed by a country’s inhabitants that have implemented privacy
legislation such as the GDPR. In that case, you must obtain cookie
consent from your website users.

You may be exempt from cookie consent if your website only utilises
strictly necessary cookies or cookies required to perform a service that the
user expects. However, most websites set cookies that do not fit this
criterion, and as a result, user consent for cookies is required.

A website may need additional permission for the collection and processing
of data from the user. In case it is using cookies other than necessary
cookies. As per the law of GDPR, CCPA, LGPD, and ePrivacy.

Why Do You Need A Cookie Consent Tool On Your

Website?

Users from all around the world can visit your website. If any of your
customers are European citizens, you must comply with GDPR and obtain
consent before collecting data from them.

If your client base includes residents of California, you must comply with
the CCPA and provide an “opt-out” procedure for them.

It’s important to note that while a Consent Management Platform (CMP)

can help you comply with the regulations, it doesn’t cover all of your
responsibilities to be compliant.

How Long Should Cookie Consent Last?

Cookie consent should not last longer than a year, and you should renew
user consent every year. You may be obliged to renew user consent every
six months, depending on your national Data Protection Authority (DPA)
requirements.
With Seers, you can customise the consent expiration limit to meet your
needs. See the step-by-step guide on how to change the consent expiry
limit here.

How Can I Implement Cookie Consent To My

Website?

You can add cookie consent on your website in three easy and simple steps.

1. Sign up on Seers for free.

2. Customise your cookie consent banner layout.
3. Copy the cookie banner code and paste it to your website.

See the detailed guide and follow how to implement a cookie banner on a
website.

Get Started For FREE

How Can I Design My Cookie Consent Banner?

You can customise your cookie consent banners with Seers, the world’s
leading consent management and privacy platform, which offers five
banner designs in 29 languages. You can also customise the style and
colour of your banner to resemble your website theme. We also have
customer service for your assistance.

How To Block Cookies On My Website?

You can block cookies with the help of the Cookie Manager functionality of
the Seers consent management platform. When you enter a new domain,
our scanner searches for the scripts that contain all of your website’s
tracking technology, such as cookies, beacons, pixels, trackers, etc., and
blocks them automatically. You can manually restrict or stop what scripts
or cookies you want to run until consent is given.

How Can The User Revoke Cookie Consent?

According to GDPR Article 7.3 and Article 29 of the revised Guidelines on
Transparency under Regulation 2016/679 of the Data Protection Working
Party (WP29), it must be as easy for a website user to withdraw consent as
it was to grant it in the first place.

When a website user is asked to consent to use his personal data, it should
be made clear that one can withdraw the consent at any time.

Is Consent To Cookies Required In The United States?

In the United States, cookie consent is not required (yet) in the same way it
is in the EU under the GDPR’s strict cookie consent requirements. However,
to comply with California’s CCPA/CPRA, Virginia’s CDPA, and other data
privacy laws in the United States, you must scan and detect all cookies and
trackers that process personal information on your domain. So you can
provide end-users with complete transparency and the option to opt out of
having their personal information shared or sold with third parties.

Do I Need Consent For Every Cookie?

You do not need consent for every cookie. However, as per ICO, it is better
to provide users with information regarding the cookie.

The cookies for which you do not need consent are:

 Session cookies that provide security and are necessary to comply

with data protection security requirements include online banking
services.
 Load balancing cookies ensure the smooth running of the content of
your page.
 Cookies that are used to remember the goods which the user wishes
to buy when they add goods to their online basket on an online
shopping website.

Available Plugins Integrations

WordPress, Shopify, Drupal, Joomla, Magento, BigCommerce, Weebly, Pres

tashop
Resources

Customise cookie consent banner FREE with Seers CMP

Learn all about Google Consent Mode

Learn about Seers WordPress Plugin

Learn about Child Privacy & Consent Management Platform Learn about
the Child Privacy Laws in the UK