Originally published December 21, 2011

Keywords: The Information Commissioner's Office ("ICO") has issued revised guidance on how website operators can comply with the change in the law on cookies, which came into effect on 26 May 2011 and must be complied with in the UK by 26 May 2012.

The guidance explains in greater detail how compliance with the change in the law might be practically achieved, provides a deeper analysis of the types of cookies that can be regarded as being "strictly necessary" for the provision of a website to a user (for which there is no requirement to obtain consent from the user to set them) and those that are not (which can only be set once consent is obtained), and specifically addresses how analytical cookies may continue to be used.

The ICO also appears to have slightly softened its stance on whether cookies can be set where a user has clearly been given the opportunity to accept or refuse cookies but has not made a choice and the amount of information that must be provided to users about the cookies that are set from websites.

Read the new guidance here.

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