Regulationsby GlyphePrivacy Directive (cookie law)
Amended European Union · In force Jul 31, 2002 · no upcoming deadlines
Deadlines
Cookie consent amendment transposition deadlineDirective 2009/136/EC, which changed Art 5(3) to require consent for cookies, had to be transposed by 25 May 2011.
Original transposition deadlineMember States had to bring national laws into force before 31 Oct 2003 (Art 17).
ePrivacy Directive enters into forceEntered into force on the day of publication in the OJ (Art 20).
Summaries for reference, not legal advice. Check the official text.
What it does
Requires prior consent to store or access information on a user's device (cookies, SDKs, fingerprinting), except where strictly necessary. Also covers confidentiality of communications, traffic and location data, and unsolicited direct marketing (opt-in for email/SMS to individuals). Telecom providers must notify personal data breaches. Enforced through national laws.
- Who it applies to
- Any entity storing or accessing information on users' terminal equipment in the EU (websites, apps, ad tech), senders of electronic direct marketing, and providers of publicly available electronic communications services.
- Penalties
- Set by national transposing laws; many Member States let DPAs apply GDPR-level fines. Amounts vary by country.
- Enforced by
- National data protection authorities and/or telecom regulators, depending on the Member State
- Official name
- Directive 2002/58/EC concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (ePrivacy Directive), as amended by Directive 2009/136/EC
- Citation
- OJ L 201, 31.7.2002, p. 37
- Topics
- Privacy, Breach notification
Research notes
The proposed ePrivacy Regulation (2017) was withdrawn by the Commission in 2025. The Digital Omnibus proposal COM(2025) 837 would move consent rules for personal data on terminal equipment into the GDPR (new Art 88a/88b, incl. browser-level preference signals). As of the 1 Aug 2026 Legislative Train update it is still under negotiation, and Council drafts reportedly drop some of the cookie provisions. Status 'amended' reflects the pending amendment.
Related
Cyber Resilience ActSets mandatory cybersecurity requirements for hardware and software products with digital elements sold in the EU: secure by design, vulnerability handling, security updates for the support period, SBOMs, and CE marking after conformity assessment. Manufacturers must report actively exploited vulnerabilities and severe incidents to CSIRTs and ENISA from 11 Sep 2026.Next: Dec 11, 2027 CRA fully applies · in 13 monthsDORAHarmonised ICT risk-management, major ICT-incident reporting, digital operational resilience testing (including threat-led penetration testing) and ICT third-party risk rules for EU financial entities. Financial entities must keep a register of all ICT third-party contracts. Critical ICT third-party providers (cloud, data centres and similar) come under direct EU oversight.In effect since Jan 16, 2023Data Governance ActSets conditions for re-use of protected public-sector data (personal data, trade secrets, IP) and creates a notification and neutrality regime for data intermediation services. It also sets up voluntary registration of 'recognised data altruism organisations'. Data intermediaries must stay neutral, separate the intermediation service from other services and notify a competent authority.In effect since Jun 23, 2022Digital Markets ActImposes ex-ante do's and don'ts on designated gatekeepers. Examples: no combining personal data across services without consent, no self-preferencing, interoperability, data portability, and business-user data access. Gatekeepers must notify all acquisitions and submit an audited description of consumer profiling techniques.In effect since Nov 1, 2022Digital Omnibus (data/GDPR)Commission proposal to simplify EU digital rules. It would amend the GDPR (personal data definition, processing for AI, a new cookie/terminal-equipment consent regime in Art 88a/88b, breach notification only for high-risk breaches within 96 hours) and the ePrivacy Directive, NIS2, CER Directive and Data Act. A single-entry point would handle incident reporting, and the Data Governance Act, Free Flow Regulation, Platform-to-Business Regulation and Open Data Directive would be repealed and merged into the Data Act. The AI Act part was split out and adopted separately as Regulation (EU) 2026/1744.No date setDigital Services ActLayered obligations for intermediary services: notice-and-action for illegal content, statements of reasons, complaint handling, transparency reporting, and ad and recommender transparency. Profiling-based ads to minors and ads based on sensitive data are banned. Very large online platforms and search engines (45M+ EU users) must also run annual systemic-risk assessments and audits and give researchers data access.Next: Feb 18, 2027 DSA SME impact report · in 4 monthsEU AI ActA risk-based product-safety regime for AI. It bans certain AI practices, imposes strict requirements on high-risk AI systems (risk management, data governance, documentation, human oversight, conformity assessment), sets transparency duties for chatbots, deepfakes and AI-generated content, and sets obligations for general-purpose AI model providers. The Digital Omnibus on AI (Regulation (EU) 2026/1744, in force 27 July 2026) pushed the high-risk dates back to 2 December 2027 (Annex III) and 2 August 2028 (Annex I). It also softened the AI literacy duty and added bans on non-consensual sexual deepfakes and child sexual abuse material (CSAM) generation.Next: Dec 2 New bans on sexual deepfakes and CSAM generation; Art 50(2) grace period ends · in 36 daysEU CSAM Interim RegulationLets providers of number-independent interpersonal communications services, such as messaging and email, voluntarily scan for and report online child sexual abuse despite ePrivacy confidentiality rules, under strict conditions. It replaces Regulation (EU) 2021/1232, which expired on 2026-04-03. The permanent CSA Regulation proposed in 2022 is still not adopted.Next: Feb 1, 2028 Commission implementation report · in 15 months
Questions about ePrivacy Directive (cookie law)
- What are the ePrivacy Directive (cookie law) compliance deadlines?
- Jul 31, 2002: ePrivacy Directive enters into force. Oct 31, 2003: Original transposition deadline. May 25, 2011: Cookie consent amendment transposition deadline.
- When does ePrivacy Directive (cookie law) take effect?
- ePrivacy Directive (cookie law) took effect on Jul 31, 2002.
- Who does ePrivacy Directive (cookie law) apply to?
- Any entity storing or accessing information on users' terminal equipment in the EU (websites, apps, ad tech), senders of electronic direct marketing, and providers of publicly available electronic communications services.
- What are the penalties under ePrivacy Directive (cookie law)?
- Set by national transposing laws; many Member States let DPAs apply GDPR-level fines. Amounts vary by country.