Important local council: Focus on new rules for cookies and data protection!

Important local council: Focus on new rules for cookies and data protection!

In Elsterheide something is happening! On June 24, 2025, the 10th meeting of the local council will take place, and this will be a real highlight for all citizens: inside. From 6 p.m., interested parties will have the opportunity to follow the consultations in the sore of the town hall live. Among other things, topics will be the customary announcements - a good reason to secure a good place and to experience all the news from first hand. The municipality has published more about this on its website.

What else is going on in the region? A completely different, but equally important topic is currently not only concerned with the Elsterheider: inside: data protection. Internet users may have already heard that since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Telemedia-Digital Dienste Date Protection Act (TDDDG), the regulations for cookies have been sharper than ever. This affects everyone who moves online and meets cookies there. The legal requirements not only sweat companies, but also users who have to cope with the many new provisions.

The rules for cookies

The use of cookies was a passionate topic before the GDPR, and the EU Directive 2002/58/EG already demanded that users had to explicitly agree before cookies can be set. One can say that the data protection experts are challenged, because the European Court of Justice made it clear again in 2019 that nothing will work without express consent for cookies that are not necessarily necessary. The [data protection expert] (https://www.datenschutzexperte.de/blog/datenschutzerklarung-cookies- and data protection) notes that companies are now forced to work with cookie banners and to inform their users about it.

It is important that technically necessary cookies, as used for the functionality of websites, generally do not require any approval. These include, among other things, those for shopping baskets or the session management. But all other cookies, be it for marketing or statistics purposes, need the user's consent. Until the final adoption of the E-Privacy Ordinance, all website operators must ensure that they comply with the applicable rules.

The way to the valid cookie banner

What is a legally secure cookie banner? According to the requirements, this must offer clear information, an opt-in function and the possibility of contradiction. "Nudging" and "Dark Patterns", which tempt users to give consent, are an absolute no-go. The [Dr. Data protection] (https://www.drddatenschutz.de/cookies-und-datenschutz- between-tdddg-und-dsgvo/) sums it up: violations of these regulations can be properly expensive and cost up to 300,000 euros.

The responsible data protection authorities of the federal states are responsible for the control of these regulations and have already started to act more against inadmissible cookie banners. In the past few months there have been the first convicts that show that there is no cardboard stick here.

So, dear Elsterheider: Inside, while the municipal council advises on important local issues, the data protection rules are also a topic that affects us all. So let's see that we stay on the ball both at the meetings in the town hall and online!