Commission seeks to cut cookie consent banners across EU websites
The European Commission is preparing an omnibus proposal to simplify tech regulation by revisiting the e-Privacy Directive’s 2009 consent requirements that generated ubiquitous cookie banners. Officials are exploring browser- or device-level preference settings and broader exceptions for “strictly necessary” and basic statistical cookies, aiming to reduce repetitive consent prompts. Denmark has floated dropping banners for technically necessary functions and simple statistics, while industry stakeholders argue for aligning cookie rules with the GDPR’s risk-based framework.
Privacy advocates warn that weakening e-Privacy could erode protections against surveillance advertising and state access, noting that the current law already permits service-essential cookies such as shopping cart remembrance. They caution that expanding “essential” tracking could allow analytics and personalization to bypass meaningful consent. The Commission’s approach rekindles longstanding tensions between data protection and adtech interests, after the e-Privacy Regulation proposal was withdrawn earlier this year amid political deadlock.
Advertisers and some tech groups propose integrating cookie governance into the GDPR to enable alternative legal bases, including legitimate interest, asserting this would streamline compliance without diluting safeguards. Critics counter that e-Privacy’s stricter consent standard is necessary to preserve user autonomy and limit pervasive tracking, and that simplification must not become deregulation by stealth. The debate underscores divergent views on how to balance privacy rights with competitiveness in the EU digital market.
Further confrontation is expected in 2026 with the forthcoming Digital Fairness Act, which targets manipulative design and unfair personalization in advertising. Any recalibration of cookie consent will test the EU’s commitment to high privacy standards while addressing user fatigue and compliance complexity. Outcomes will hinge on whether preference centralization and narrowly tailored exceptions can reduce banner overload without broadening adtech tracking beyond genuine necessity.
