ICO advises easing consent rules for low-risk online ads
The UK's Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has provided advice to the government on potential changes to online advertising rules, specifically Regulation 6 of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR). The advice suggests amending Regulation 6 to allow certain low-risk forms of online advertising to operate without consent, while maintaining consent requirements for intrusive tracking, aiming to reduce 'consent fatigue' and foster privacy-preserving ad models. This follows a review conducted by the ICO to understand how current consent requirements may be hindering innovation in privacy-friendly advertising.
Key Takeaways
- The ICO’s advice targets Regulation 6 of PECR, which governs storage and access technologies such as cookies, scripts and tags.
- The proposed change would let certain low-risk online advertising run without consent, while keeping consent for intrusive tracking and profiling over time and across services.
- William Malcolm said many organisations want alternatives to more intrusive behavioural advertising, but say Regulation 6 creates a barrier to adopting lower-risk approaches.
- The ICO published a report for DSIT alongside a public call for views summary, citizens’ jury findings and a cost-benefit analysis.
- The current PECR rules have not changed, and the ICO said organisations must still comply with existing guidance on storage and access technologies.
Why It Matters
If the government adopts this advice, websites and apps could stop asking for consent on first visit when only low-risk advertising is involved, while still needing valid consent for intrusive tracking. That creates a clearer lane for contextual advertising and other privacy-preserving models under PECR, instead of treating all ad tech the same. The ICO also paired its advice with a call-for-views summary, citizens’ jury report and cost-benefit analysis, which means the next signal to watch is whether DSIT moves Regulation 6 into secondary legislation and how quickly the current consent flow changes on live sites.
Read full article at ico.org.uk