Italy’s New Privacy Guidelines: Here Is What You Need to Know

The Italian data privacy law includes a number of important details that you should be aware of if you happen to fall under the rules’ umbrella (see a more detailed explanation below) but it is not correct to think that these laws are bad news for website owners. While they do represent a set of policies and features that must be enacted on each website, there are provisions that allow users to accept cookies, and a streamlined cookie acceptance toolbar can add to your site’s attractiveness while also showing that you are cognizant of user privacy and wish to protect it.

Any company with headquarters in Italy or that interacts with or targets Italian data subjects must now ensure their cookie banner complies with the Italian government’s cookie guidelines.

These Italian privacy guideline changes are related to guidelines from the GDPR and rules from other countries in Europe such as Ireland, France, Spain, and Denmark, though it is important to realize that while the rules of each country share some common traits, they are all unique and distinct. Formatting your cookies for users of one country does not mean you will automatically comply with rules in a second country. Each country requires individual attention to ensure cookie compliance.

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Any business or entity dealing in the Italian online ecosystem should consult with a cookie consent expert like CookieHub to fully understand what the Italian rules are and how you can adapt to them. However, here is a general overview of what the Italian cookie and privacy consent laws include:

1. A user’s action of scrolling down a website does not legally constitute consent. To legally constitute consent, the user has to click on the consent button.
2. There is now a clear delineation between first-party and third-party cookies. The Italian Garante rules do make a distinction between technical tracks and profiling trackers that are necessary for website use and those that are not absolutely required for the operation of the website or content.
3. Technical cookies are the only things allowed unless a user gives express prior consent. Note that this is not the same as consent for analytical cookies, where content managers need only to ask for consent if those cookies are being combined with other processing actions or if the stats are being transmitted to an outside party for use and analysis.
4. Users need to be given a choice. Website footers need to include information and icons as well as a link that users can follow to update and learn more about cookie preferences.
5. Cookie managers have to make the entire information and consent process clear and easy to understand. Anything that looks confusing, oblique, or tricky could be cited.
6. If you do not have one already you should seriously consider creating a cookie banner. That banner should have a button that lets people close it, a warning that closing the banner results in the user being left with default settings, some information about the site’s use of profiling cookies, a way to access an extended privacy policy, the ability to select certain cookies, and the ability to accept all cookies.
7. Users need to be able to revoke their cookie consent at any time. Note that attempting to hide this revocation of the consent tool or button will frustrate users and leave a lasting negative impression.

How your company collects and uses user data is crucial. Keep in mind that the Italian DPA has a variety of enforcement tools at its disposal, including not just warnings but also fines of up to $25 million or 4 percent of your company’s annual global revenue.

CookieHub is on your side! CookieHub makes cookie consent management simple by using a full-featured CMP that employs a widget added to your website to automatically categorize and generate a cookie declaration listing, with website visitors given the ability to allow or deny cookies. CookieHub remembers that decision, smoothing the sign-on process and enabling the delivery of customized content to visitors.

For customers looking to comply with the new Italian data privacy laws, or any of the other European data privacy laws as well as GDPR, CookieHub offers website auditing that can show you what types of cookies you are using and if your consent product is compliant with the new law.

Contact the pros at CookieHub today to learn more.

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