Texts to 22 Oct 2026

Digital Omnibus proposal· Recital 45

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Cookies, device access and consent

Text

Recital 45 Digital Omnibus proposal as printed in the Council text of 22 October 2026

Source Council, 22 October 2026. Recital 45: ST 14756/26, page 50 · exact text page

Subscribers or users that have refused a request for consent are often confronted with a new request to give consent each time they visit the same provider’s online service again. This may have detrimental effects to the subscribers or users which may consent just in order to avoid repeating requests. The provider should therefore be obliged to respect the subscriber or users' choices to refuse a request for consent for at least a certain period. This obligation is applicable to any provider that accesses or stores information in the terminal equipment of a subscriber or user, including so-called third-party cookie. The provider may request consent within this period where a new request for consent is necessary, for example if the purpose of processing changes. This could be the case where a new service is offered or where substantial changes to the service are made. A new request may also be made where the cookie or other technology recording the subscriber or user’s choice is no longer valid for reasons beyond the service provider’s control, including when the user has deleted the cookies. Furthermore, the amendments to Directive 2002/58/EC should not be understood as setting out conditions relating to the online revenue streams of media services providers.

How the recital changed

Each text against the text before it

Recital Commission19 Nov 2025Rec 45Council21 May 2026Rec 45Council10 Jun 2026Rec 45Council18 Jun 2026Rec 45Council3 Sep 2026Rec 45Council2 Oct 2026Rec 45Council22 Oct 2026Rec 45
Compared withlaw in forcethe proposal21 May text10 Jun text18 Jun text3 Sep text2 Oct text
Recital 45 45 Added 45 Changed 45 Changed 45 Changed 45 Changed 45 Changed 45 Unchanged

Each text against the text before it: +Added in this text, not in the text before~Changed wording changed=Unchanged same as the text before

Parliament amendments propose other recitals under these numbers: Recital 45a (new).

Parliament amendments

7 amendments to this recital

7 propose alternative wording.

By political group; co-sponsored amendments count for each group
TypeGreens/EFARenewECRPfENIRapporteur
~ Alternative212111

By political group

  • ~ Alternative Greens/EFA 2 Renew 1 ECR 2 PfE 1 NI 1 Rapporteur 1
  1. 23 Alternative Alex Agius Saliba (rapporteur)Rapporteur · IMCO “In addition, gatekeepers designated under Regulation (EU) 2022/1925 should not be allowed to prompt data subjects more than once a year to give…”

    (45) Data subjects that have refused a request for consent are often confronted with a new request to give consent each time they visit the same controller’s online service again. This may have detrimental effects to the data subjects which may consent just in order to avoid repeating requests. The controller should therefore be obliged to respect the data subject’s choices to refuse a request for consent for at least a certain period. In addition, gatekeepers designated under Regulation (EU) 2022/1925 should not be allowed to prompt data subjects more than once a year to give consent for the same processing purpose in respect of which they did not give consent or withdrew their consent.

    Justification

    This amendment is inspired by recital 37 of the Digital Markets Act.

    Rapporteur
    Alex Agius Saliba
    Group
    Rapporteur
    Targets
    Digital Omnibus proposal Recital 45
    Document
    IMCO draft opinion
    Printed header
    Recital 45
  2. 182 Alternative David CormandGreens/EFA · IMCO “cookie or similar device stored on their terminal equipment. This is particularly important where a user other than the original user have access to…”

    (45) Data subjects that have refused a request for consent are often confronted with a new request to give consent each time they visit the same controller’s online service again. This may have detrimental effects to the data subjects which may consent just in order to avoid repeating requests.Consumers should have the opportunity to refuse to have a cookie or similar device stored on their terminal equipment. This is particularly important where a user other than the original user have access to the terminal equipment and thereby to any data containing privacy-sensitive information stored on such equipment. Information and the right to refuse may be offered once for the use of various devices to be installed on the user’s terminal equipment during the same connection and also covering any further use that may be made of those devices during subsequent connections. The controller should therefore be obliged to respect the data subject’s choices to refuse a request for consent for at least a certain period.The methods for giving information, offering a right to refuse or requesting consent should be made as user-friendly as possible. Access to specific website content may still be made conditional on the well-informed acceptance of a cookie or similar device, if it is used for a legitimate purpose. When a user has refused or withdrawn consent, electronic communications service providers and third parties may not seek the user’s consent again until one year has elapsed from the date of the user’s decision.

    Tabled by
    David Cormand on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group
    Group
    Greens/EFA
    Targets
    Digital Omnibus proposal Recital 45
    Document
    IMCO amendments 125–328 to the draft opinion
    Printed header
    Recital 45
  3. 458 Alternative Irena Joveva +5Renew · ITRE–LIBE “Therefore, web browsers and operating systems should enable user-friendly, straightforward and prominently displayed single-click button to refuse or…”

    (45) Data subjects that have refused a request for consent are often confronted with a new request to give consent each time they visit the same controller’s online service again. This may have detrimental effects to the data subjects which may consent just in order to avoid repeating requests. The controller should therefore be obliged to respect the data subject’s choices to refuse a request for consent for at least a certain period.To enable genuine freedom of choice, the controller should therefore be obliged to respect the data subject’s choices to refuse, withdraw, or receive relavent information to make informed decision regarding a request for consent for at least one year, prevening continuous requests, including via pop-up windows on online interface. Moreover, data subject’s freedom to express a refusal or withdrawal of consent must be as effortless and instantaneous as granting it. Therefore, web browsers and operating systems should enable user-friendly, straightforward and prominently displayed single-click button to refuse or withdraw consent directly alongside any option to accept. Furthermore, users should never be put in the situation of surrendering their data by providers of services denying them access to a service or any functionality of that service, unless it is strictly necessary for the functioning of that service. It is also necesarry to protect users from unsolicited invasive stealth tracking methods. Therefore, online choice architectures should be designed neutrally, and the processing of indentifiers beyond what is strictly to remember a privacy choice when consent is refused or withdrawn should not be permitted. Furthermore, in order to guarantee the validity of user intent, consent obtained through manipulative designs or dark patters that distors free choice should be considered legally invalid.

    Tabled by
    Irena Joveva, Michael McNamara, Raquel García Hermida-Van Der Walle, Oihane Agirregoitia Martínez, Veronika Cifrová Ostrihoňová, Fabienne Keller
    Group
    Renew
    Targets
    Digital Omnibus proposal Recital 45
    Document
    ITRE–LIBE amendments 401–526 to the draft report
    Printed header
    Recital 45
  4. 459 Alternative Markéta GregorováGreens/EFA · ITRE–LIBE “The requirements for consent were also strengthened in the case of accessing information already stored or storing information on the terminal…”

    (45) Data subjectsUsers that have refused a request for consent are often confronted with a new request to give consent each time they visit the same controller’s online service again. This may have detrimental effects to the data subjects or users which may consent just in order to avoid repeating requests. The controller should therefore be obliged to respect the data subject’s choices to refuse a request for consent for at least a certain period.The controller should therefore be obliged to respect the users’ choices to refuse a request for consent and not ask for consent again where the user has already expressed their choice for the given purpose. For consistency purposes, this Regulation further specifies that the refusal of a request for consent should be as easy as consenting or withdrawing consent, as required under Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679. The requirements for consent were also strengthened in the case of accessing information already stored or storing information on the terminal equipment of a natural person. Both should be read in conjunction, as the intent is that an option to refuse consent in an easy and intelligible manner is to be provided with a prominently displayed single-click button, especially when there is a possibility to consent to all purposes with a single-click button in the case of Regulation (EU) 2016/679.

    Tabled by
    Markéta Gregorová on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group
    Group
    Greens/EFA
    Targets
    Digital Omnibus proposal Recital 45
    Document
    ITRE–LIBE amendments 401–526 to the draft report
    Printed header
    Recital 45
  5. 460 Alternative Julie Rechagneux +7ECR, PfE · ITRE–LIBE “The single-click modality and the period referred to constitute an ergonomic ideal rather than a mandatory technological standard, their practical…”

    (45) Data subjects that have refused a request for consent are often confronted with a new request to give consent each time they visit the same controller’s online service again. This may have detrimental effects to the data subjects which may consent just in order to avoid repeating requests. The controller should therefore be obliged to respect the data subject’s choices to refuse a request for consent for at least a certain period. The single-click modality and the period referred to constitute an ergonomic ideal rather than a mandatory technological standard, their practical implementation being more complex and capable of varying according to context. Data subjects should be able to express and modulate their consent at several levels — terminal equipment, operating system, web browser, application or on a site-by-site basis — and to outsource its management to a consent and agency-enhancing service provider, a data intermediation service provided to data subjects or a personal data space. An automated indication should not preclude the expression of service-specific choices.

    Justification

    Privacy choices are contextual. A blanket signal imposed without granularity would conflict with the specificity requirement of consent under the Regulation itself. The amendment preserves the anti-fatigue objective while restoring the data subject’s ability to modulate.

    Tabled by
    Julie Rechagneux, Mélanie Disdier, Aleksandar Nikolic, Pierre-Romain Thionnet, Alexandre Varaut, Fabrice Leggeri, Marion Maréchal, Christophe Bay
    Group
    ECR, PfE
    Targets
    Digital Omnibus proposal Recital 45
    Document
    ITRE–LIBE amendments 401–526 to the draft report
    Printed header
    Recital 45
  6. 461 Alternative Sebastian Tynkkynen +1ECR · ITRE–LIBE “from requesting consent at a later stage, for example if the data subject requests to access the service, through a different device, browser…”

    (45) Data subjects that have refused a request for consent are often confronted with a new request to give consent each time they visit the same controller’s online service again. This may have detrimental effects to the data subjects which may consent just in order to avoid repeating requests. The controller should therefore be obliged to respect the data subject’s choices to refuse a request for consent for at least a certain period.The controller should therefore be obliged to respect the data subject’s refusal of consent for a reasonable period of time, taking into account the context of the processing, the means by which the data subject accessed the service, and technical feasibility. This obligation should not prevent a provider from requesting consent at a later stage, for example if the data subject requests to access the service, through a different device, browser, account or access method, nor should it lead to a disproportionate deterioration of the service or prevent the data subject from accessing the service under different conditions. The provider should also make available effective and easily accessible means for the data subject to withdraw or modify their choice at any time.

    Tabled by
    Sebastian Tynkkynen, Diego Solier
    Group
    ECR
    Targets
    Digital Omnibus proposal Recital 45
    Document
    ITRE–LIBE amendments 401–526 to the draft report
    Printed header
    Recital 45
  7. 462 Alternative Diana Iovanovici ŞoşoacăNI · ITRE–LIBE “In such cases, a validation or consent request could clarify situations that might add legal uncertainty.”

    (45) Data subjects that have refused a request for consent are often confronted with a new request to give consent each time they visit the same controller’s online service again. This may have detrimental effects to the data subjects which may consent just in order to avoid repeating requests. The controller should therefore be obliged to respect the data subject’s choices to refuse a request for consent for at least a certain period. In such cases, a validation or consent request could clarify situations that might add legal uncertainty.

    Tabled by
    Diana Iovanovici Şoşoacă
    Group
    NI
    Targets
    Digital Omnibus proposal Recital 45
    Document
    ITRE–LIBE amendments 401–526 to the draft report
    Printed header
    Recital 45