CNIL fines Carrefour for breaches to the GDPR
On November 26, 2020, the French Data Protection Authority CNIL announced it had issued fines on Carrefour and Carrefour Bank for failing to obtain users’ consent before setting advertising cookies.
Moreover, the CNIL held that Carrefour Bank had also failed to provide adequate and complete information on its website regarding a ‘pass card’ online subscription.
It therefore sanctioned Carrefour France with a fine of €2,250,000 and Carrefour Banque with a fine of €800,000.
On the other hand, the CNIL did not issue an injunction as significant efforts has been made to correct processes and bring identified breaches into compliance.
Failed to collect valid consent to cookies
The CNIL noted that, when a user connects to the carrefour.fr site or the carrefour-banque.fr site, several cookies were automatically placed on the user’s device (computer/phone), before any action was taken on the site.
Several of these cookies are used for advertising, however the user’s consent should have been collected before placing the tracking cookies.
The companies have later modified the way their websites function during the procedure. No advertising cookies are now deposited before the user has given their consent.
How to collect valid consent to cookies
When your website uses cookies, either first-party cookies or third-party cookies from services like Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, LinkedIn Insights or YouTube, you are required to collect your users’ valid consent to cookies.
Cookies from abovementioned services all collect your users’ personal data for processing. Therefore, using these types of cookies requires you to collect a consent which meets the requirement of recital 32 in the GDPR.
“Consent should be given by a clear affirmative act establishing a freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the data subject's agreement to the processing of personal data relating to him or her (..) Silence, pre-ticked boxes or inactivity should not therefore constitute consent”.
When it comes to informing users about cookies, obtaining and storing valid consents, you should use a certified Consent Management Platform.
With a Consent Solution from Cookie Information, you will receive a cookie consent pop-up that will:
Checklist for collecting
valid consent to cookies
- Block cookies before you get consent
- Offer an easy way for your user to decline cookies
- Inform your users of cookies
- Respect their privacy choices
- Provide an easy way for change or withdraw consent
- Store their consents for 5 years
Avoid fines like Carrefour and Carrefour Bank. Collect valid consent to cookies and become GDPR compliant on your website. Start today and we’ll guide you all the way.
