Cookie banners should be scrapped, coalition urges EU

A coalition of 19 civil society groups, academics and businesses has urged the European Union to end cookie consent banners on websites, saying users should be able to set privacy preferences once and rarely see another banner.

Cookies are trackers that monitor users' online behaviour and can allow companies to target advertising.

In a letter to the European Commission, EU governments and members of the European Parliament, the coalition called for an end to what it described as "annoying and misleading cookie banners".

The European Commission last year proposed a data protection reform that initially included plans to remove the banners. EU member states oppose an article that the coalition said would have allowed users to set their privacy preferences once.

The reform can become law only after the European Parliament and the EU's 27 member states negotiate a final version.

Ursula Pachl of the European Centre for Digital Rights, known as Noyb, said there was "no valid justification" to drop the Commission proposal and keep what she called the current "cookie banner disaster".