Non-Compliant Cookies and Cookie Banners entail fine of EUR 50,000

Recently, the Belgian supervisory authority Gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit imposed a fine of EUR 50,000 on Roularta Media Group, a Belgian media company, in connection with cookies and cookie banners.

In the course of a cluster audit of Belgian websites, the Belgian supervisory authority also examined the websites of the Roularta Media Group more closely. The authority found that, among other things, approximately 60 technically unnecessary cookies were set without related consent upon access of the websites levif.be and knack.be. It was subsequently possible to "object" to cookies that required consent. However, in the related "opt-out" forms, the checkboxes for setting cookies requiring consent had already been ticked – which meant that the user had to act so as to revoke such consent.

The authority found that these and other practices were unlawful. In particular, the following violations were identified:

1. Web analytics cookies were set without the consent of the data subjects
2. Non-functional cookies were set before the user's consent was obtained.
3. The check boxes for giving consent were already ticked in advance.
4. The information provided in the privacy policy or cookie policy was deficient and incorrect.
5. Revocation of consent was not possible.

The decision is not yet final and unappealable. However, the decision also makes it clear once again that the use of cookies and the design and implementation of cookie banners have top priority and must be legally compliant.

The KWR data protection law team will be happy to support you in the implementation of your online marketing strategy!

https://www.gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit.be/publications/beslissing-ten-gronde-nr.-85-2022.pdf