A pre-ticked checkbox is not valid consent for placing cookies under the EU eprivacy directive – says the Advocate General to the Court of Justice of the EU in the Planet49 case.

Other takeaways:

• Pre-ticked box + an active “click” on “participate in lottery” is still not sufficient consent for placing cookies. For consent to be “freely given” and “informed,” it must not only be active, but also separate.
• The activity a user pursues on the internet (reading a webpage, watching a video, etc.) and the giving of consent cannot form part of the same act or be ancillary to the main activity.
• You must make crystal clear to a user whether his/her consent to the cookies is a condition to their being able to pursue the activities.
• You must disclose both the duration of the operation of the cookies and the question of whether third parties have access to the cookies set or not. If third parties have access, their identity must be disclosed.

Review the full text of the opinion.