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We have noticed that some website owners merge their cookie policy into their privacy policy. If you publish in one language for one market, that merge is usually not a problem. But if your website targets residents of the EU, you are better off keeping them apart.
What is the difference between a cookie policy and a privacy policy? Why does the EU want them separated? What does it mean for your business? Read on for the answers.
What Is a Cookie Policy?
A cookie is a small text file that a website or an application sends to a visitor’s device. That text file gathers information about what the user does on your site.
Cookies store various pieces of information to improve how users experience your site, and possibly to improve your ability to reconnect with them later.
What a cookie collects can include the user’s preferred language, their device settings, their browsing activity and other useful details.
Generate a cookie policy automatically
What Is a Privacy Policy?
A privacy policy is a legally binding document setting out how you collect and handle a user’s personal data. It is one of the most important legal documents on your website.
You could say that publishing a privacy policy on your website is a legal requirement, and that you have to abide by it as well.
A privacy policy is an excellent instrument for building a proper relationship with the people using your website. It helps your users know what to expect and understand how you protect their privacy.
Generate a privacy policy automatically
Why Give the Cookie Policy and the Privacy Policy Their Own Pages?
In May 2011 the European Union adopted the Cookie Directive as part of an effort to improve online privacy for EU citizens. The directive affects every website located in the EU or targeting users in the EU.
The European Commission sets out that definition here.
Under the Cookie Directive, websites have to warn users that cookies are present and explain what kinds are being used. Users also have to be able to refuse or accept having a cookie placed on their device.
If your cookies include a Google Ads or a Facebook Pixel tag, you have to mention them.
Having a separate cookie policy is not as strict a requirement outside the EU. But any website targeting EU customers has to comply with the Cookie Directive, wherever it is based.
Amazon abides by a cookie policy in the United Kingdom, though it can behave differently on its domains in other countries. In the same way, the Facebook cookie policy keeps to European Union criteria.
A privacy policy page is generally mandatory in countries such as the United States, while a separate cookie policy usually is not. That alone makes it sensible to keep the two pages apart. And if your website targets Europe, you have to produce a cookie policy and put it in front of users for consent on its own page. Which is exactly why the two pages should be separate.
