IAB Europe and EASA welcome dialogue with the Article 29 Working Party

Brussels, 23rd January 2012: Following the Article 29 Working Party open letter dated 8 December 2011, IAB Europe and EASA continue to welcome dialogue on the IAB Europe OBA framework and the EASA Best Practice Recommendation aimed at empowering consumers with transparency and choice towards Online Behavioural Advertising (‘OBA’).

IAB Europe and EASA have issued a response that addresses all the major points raised in the Working Party’s letter, notably:

On the OBA Icon: the icon will quickly become a widely-recognised symbol of transparency and choice for consumers. The high visibility of the icon (with billions of icons expected to be displayed per month) will undoubtedly create consumer awareness, trust and confidence on a permanent basis. As regards the text to be displayed alongside the icon, industry is open to dialogue with all stakeholders, including the Working Party.

On http://www.youronlinechoices.eu/: several clarifications and improvements have been made to the website following recommendations from the Working Party.

The trading seal will demonstrate a company’s compliance with the Framework, not with the law.

IAB Europe and EASA agree that pop ups should be avoided and strongly believe that the OBA self-regulatory programme brings a modern in-context choice and information mechanism to avoid disruption for users and negative economic effects on European businesses.

A copy of the letter is available here:

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IAB Europe and EASA welcome the continued feedback and opinions of the Article 29 Working Party, as provided at the European Commission’s Roundtable on OBA on 18 January 2012 and are looking forward to maintaining a constructive dialogue on the IAB Europe and EASA self-regulatory initiative on OBA.

"We are pleased with the progress of the dialogue between IAB Europe/EASA and the Article 29 Working Party," says Stephan Noller, Chairman of the IAB Europe policy committee and CEO of nugg.ad. "Based on the IAB initiative, we have collectively developed a constructive solution aimed at dealing with OBA within the EU".

Angela Mills Wade, EASA Vice Chairman, emphasises that "The OBA self-regulatory initiative does not replace existing laws and that companies have to be compliant with the national legislative framework."