New EU cookie law

grunt · Post by **grunt** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 2:34 pm

Does this rule apply to me? I am a Belgium Citizen but my website is hosted in the USA.

Also what happens if your site is hosted in EU and they find out you aren't doing what they ask?

Will you have to pay some fee, will they take down your website without warning?

I'm just very curious and worried.

AndyJ · Post by **AndyJ** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 4:23 pm

Hi grunt,
I'm sure you realise that your question has nothing whatever to do with Copyright or indeed any other intellectual property right which some times crops up here.
However it is fairly easy to give you a quick answer. If you need further details this pdf issued by the UK's Information Commissioner provides some additional information.
Basically:

An organisation [or individual] based in the [EU] is likely to be subject to the requirements of the Regulations even if their website is technically hosted overseas. Organisations based outside of Europe with websites designed for the European market, or providing products or services to customers in Europe, should consider that their users in Europe will clearly expect information and choices about cookies to be provided.

So really the fact that the servers are located elsewhere doesn't affect the application of the EU Directive where the website owner is based within the EU. Another guide to whether the Directive might apply would be if your website offers goods or services which are priced in Euros, for example.
However each member state has been given wide discretion about how it implements the Directive, so it would be worth you checking with the Belgian authority charged with bringing the rules into force there.
In the UK, the penalties will not kick in until several warnings and 'guidance letters' have been issued, and because there are many exemptions and 'get-out' clauses (see the pdf I mentioned earlier for details) it is possible for a website owner to appeal any decision made against him and probably avoid the ultimate sanction which could be a fine of up to £500,000. Clearly the enforcement regime and possible maximum fine in Belgium could be quite different.

grunt · Post by **grunt** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 5:20 pm

I didn't know where else to post it here I guess so so sorry about that.

Thanks for the detailed reply.

So I own eurovisionsongs.eu this means for sure that I have to apply the notice of cookies right?

Cause the website will be all about the eurovision song festival.

Sharing songs and artists bio's and more.

but now I wonder what is it I exactly have to put on my website to meet the requirements of this rule?

Something like this on the footer or index of a webpage?

By accesing this website you agree to the usage of cookies.

Regards,
Matt.

AndyJ · Post by **AndyJ** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 6:08 pm

Matt,
Take a look at that pdf I mentioned in the previous post. It explains how you can obtain consent or infer that consent has automatically been given. But before all that, have you considered not implementing cookies in the first place?

grunt · Post by **grunt** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 7:34 am

I use softwares like phpBB, MyBB and Wordpress.

I don't see how I can turn off cookies on those platforms.

They are needed for those softwares to work I believe.

Would you be able to tell me if my site meets the rule or not?

projectideas . info

I have a terms and guidelines page setup + a privacy policy on the second page of the terms and guidelines page.

Though I don't know now with what you just told me that I pass the requirements...

I know it has to be shown somewhere clear like here maybe?

I just put in the footer this message?

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies. [link to privacy policy]

AndyJ · Post by **AndyJ** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 9:57 am

Hi Matt
As this site is about copyright, I don't want to get into a long discussion on this particular issue as it is off-topic.
So long as you display your site's cookie policy fairly prominently on the home page, and you (or the server on which your site is hosted) does not store any significant personal information in the cookies, your site should be in compliance. There are plenty of free scripts and plugins available to create a simple cookie consent dialog, for instance this one uses Javascript: CookieConsent
If users of your site do not have to fill in forms which could result in additional personal information being captured then a basic cookie would normally be restricted recording the user's IP address, their browser name/version and any pages or links which they click on during their session on the site.
If you need more advice on this I suggest you try a forum devoted to web development.
I hope this helps.

grunt · Post by **grunt** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 12:32 pm

Thanks for sharing that link. Will use that on all my websites from now on.

This is resolved as well.