Does your website need a cookie banner?
You need a cookie banner only for cookies that require consent. The law is article 11.7a of the Dutch Telecommunications Act, together with the GDPR, and the Dutch Data Protection Authority (the AP) explains them. This table shows which cookies need consent:
| Kind of cookie | Consent needed? | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Necessary or functional | No | Remembering what is in a basket, staying signed in, a language choice |
| Analytical, with little effect on privacy | No, but you must inform visitors | Counting how many visits a page gets |
| Analytical that follows or recognises visitors | Yes | Recognising visitors across visits or websites |
| Tracking, profiling and advertising | Yes | An advertising pixel, following visitors across websites |
| Embedded services that set cookies themselves | Often yes | An embedded video or map, a social network button |
The AP notes that certain functional and limited analytical cookies also fall under the GDPR. You need not ask for consent, but you must weigh the interests, be able to show that you have done so and inform visitors, for example in your privacy statement.
How do you check your own website?
Open your website in a private window, open your browser’s developer tools and look in three places. Under Application or Storage, at Cookies, you see which cookies are there after loading and from which address. Under Network you see which other parties the requests go to. And then click through a few pages, including those with a video, a map or a form, because those are the places where something gets loaded.
If there is a cookie or a request you did not intend, it comes from an embedded part or from a service you added. If that part recognises or follows visitors, you need consent. If you want to avoid the banner, you remove the part.
If you find something on your website that you cannot place, request a quote to have it traced and removed.
How do you avoid needing a banner?
Avoiding a banner is usually cheaper than maintaining one, and it can be done in four ways:
- Measure visitors without following them: count visits, pages and sources, without cookies that recognise visitors.
- Use no advertising pixels on a website that runs no ads.
- Load an embedded video or map only after a click, or replace it with an image and a link. A video that loads itself sets cookies before the visitor has chosen anything.
- Choose fonts and parts that are served from your own website, because what is loaded from another party can give that party information about your visitor.
A website built like that needs no banner.
Want a website that is set up this way from the start? Request a quote and say which videos, maps or forms it should have.
What should a banner look like?
If you need one, the nine rules the AP gives in Clear cookie banners apply:
- Say what you process and for what. If a lot is processed, use two layers: the first says that and why, the second the details.
- Use no pre-ticked boxes, not even on the second layer.
- Use simple language, with buttons such as “accept”, “agree” or “refuse”.
- Put all choices on one layer. Refusing and accepting are on the same layer, and showing only “accept” on the first layer is not allowed.
- Hide no choice. The refuse button is clearly visible and legible, not at the bottom of a scroll and not barely distinguishable from the background.
- Make refusing cost no more clicks than accepting, with no extra confirmation after refusing.
- Put no inconspicuous link in the text for refusing.
- Make withdrawing consent as easy as giving it, for example with an icon that is always visible.
- Do not confuse consent with legitimate interest: for tracking you need consent.
According to the Ondernemersplein, the visitor must also actively give consent, and continuing to browse does not count as consent. A website that works only if the visitor accepts (a cookie wall) makes consent invalid.
You stay responsible
If you use a service to manage consent, you remain responsible yourself. The AP says the default settings of such services often do not comply with the GDPR, so you adjust them or choose another.
What do you have to tell visitors if you need no consent?
You tell visitors that you place the cookies and what for. The Ondernemersplein names your privacy statement as the place. A separate cookie statement is not needed if the privacy statement says it.
Frequently asked questions
Is continuing to browse consent?
No. The visitor must actively give consent. A text saying that continuing means agreeing is invalid.
May I block the website if someone refuses?
No. A cookie wall makes consent invalid, according to the Ondernemersplein. Anyone who refuses simply uses the website.
What if my website was made with a tool?
Look at what the tool loads. A tool sometimes places statistics, fonts or chat widgets from other parties. A website made by AI gives the full checklist.
If you want a website without a banner
If you check your website and nothing needs consent, you have no banner and do not need us. If you have a banner that does not meet the rules, you adjust the settings of your service. If you want a new website, we build it without cookies that need consent and with statistics that do not follow visitors, unless you deliberately choose something that does need consent. Request a quote and tell us what you want to know about your visitors. You receive a quote with the hours, the schedule, the price and what is not included.
See an example website quote first.
Want this built, or want to talk it through?
Write to us with what it is for, who will use it and when you need it. We reply within one working day.
Read next
- What must be on a business website in the Netherlands?Which details and texts a business website must show, by situation, with the source and with what you can skip.
- Does my website have to be accessible? What the law requiresWhether the accessibility rules apply to your website, what they ask and how to check for yourself whether your website complies.
- Can AI build your business website? What it missesWhat an AI tool does for your website, what it leaves to you and how to decide whether it is enough.
