On 8 May this year the Dutch Senate agreed on the new Dutch Cookie Law. The new law has entered into force on 5 June 2012 at extremely short notice.

What is permitted?

Under the new Cookie Law the use of cookies is only allowed if prior permission has been given by the website visitor (opt-in).

Informed consent!

The visitor must first be clearly and fully informed about the use of cookies, including how the information collected will be used.

Exceptions

The information obligation and opt-in do not apply to functional cookies. Functional cookies are:

(1) cookies needed for establishing communication (e.g. logging onto an electronic banking system), or

(2) cookies strictly necessary for the implementation of a service explicitly requested by the user (e.g. shopping cart for online orders).

Analysis and statistics

For services of third parties using cookies - such as the popular Google Analytics - advance permission must in principle also be requested!

Device fingerprinting

In addition, the new Cookie Law is also applicable to the monitoring of online users on the basis of the technical features of their devices (the so-called "device fingerprinting').