The storage of online cookies requires ‘active consent’ from web users, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled on Tuesday (1 October). The decision came following a challenge from the German Federation of Consumer Organisations against the use of a pre-ticked checkbox which had consented to cookies on behalf of the user by default.

On Tuesday, the court ruled that “the consent which a website user must give to the storage of and access to cookies on his or her equipment is not validly constituted by way of a pre- checked checkbox,” and therefore the user must actively submit their approval for cookie storage.

‘Cookies’ or ‘data packets’ are items of code stored on a computer which are used to track a users’ activity online.

The case had been made against Germany company Planet49, and the fact that in 2013 the firm had presented web users with a ‘pre-ticked’ box consenting to cookie storage, in order to access a promotional lottery game online.

The case is: C-673/17, Planet49 GmbH v. Bundesverband der Verbraucherzentralen und Verbraucherverbände — Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband e. V.