IAB Europe congratulates Hungarian legislator for consumer friendly law on use of storing technologies and cookies

Change in Hungarian legislation will ensure continuous growth of internet

On Tuesday this week the Hungarian parliament voted on the transposition of the E-Privacy Directive. The Directive was revised and adopted by the European Parliament and the Council on 25th November 2009 and has to be transposed into national law. The Directive’s provision on storing of technologies on a user’s PC, Art. 5.3, has caused difficulties, as some advocate transpositions that would require users to e.g. accept each and every cookie. The European Commission published guidance to EU governments to ensure the transposition into national law in a harmonised manner. While the previous provision on cookies of the Hungarian law was ambiguously drafted and at times had been interpreted as an opt-in regime, the legislator recognised the difficulties and transposed the Directive in user-friendly way. The revised law requires ‘consent’ but does not go as far as the Dutch law that has been just adopted by the parliament. The Dutch law introduces an overly strict opt-in regime that will impact the Dutch internet sector. The Dutch law has yet to be approved or rejected by the Dutch Senate in early autumn.

“We welcome the Hungarian law”, said Kimon Zorbas, Vice President IAB Europe adding “The law reflects the European Directive on points like user-friendliness but also ensures that Hungarian companies can compete with European companies on an equal footing. What users need is enhanced transparency and choice in a meaningful way – not legalistic frameworks with overly strict opt-ins as in the Netherlands that will just slow down the Dutch internet. With this approach, we can say that Hungary has not only endorsed the objective of a harmonised approach but also demonstrated to other governments how legislation for internet businesses can be improved.”  

Background info:

The European E-Privacy Directive had to be transposed into national law by 25 May 2011. However, most EU countries have not yet transposed the Directive and the Netherlands was the first of the top markets to requiring an opt-in. The Dutch provision could lead into a scenario as the following: http://www.davidnaylor.co.uk/eu-cookies-directive-interactive-guide-to-25th-may-and-what-it-means-for-you.html

For further information, please contact:

IAB Europe:
Kimon Zorbas, Vice President, vp@iabeurope.eu T: +32 494 34 91 68
Media/press, pressrelations@iabeurope.eu

IAB Netherlands:
Joris van Heukelom, President IAB Netherlands, T: +31 61 307 2152
Joost Phoelich, Managing Director, joost@iab.nl, T: +31 63 956 1384