ICO: Fines for cookie law breakers "unlikely"

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has assured that, despite the grace period for complying with the new cookie laws ending soon, online firms will be looked on favourably if they can show they have taken some action.

The Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations were amended in May last year to ensure websites got permission from visitors before downloading cookies onto their devices.

We cannot and do not rule out issuing fines, but it is most unlikely that breaches of the cookie requirements will meet the criteria.

The ICO is responsible for clamping down on firms that breach these requirements and, in serious cases, can issue fines of up to 500,000.

Companies were given a deadline of 26 May 2012, after the rules were first introduced, to overhaul their websites and comply.

However, during a media briefing in central London earlier today, the data protection watchdog said, as long as websites can prove they have started addressing the issue, it will not be taking action against them.

David Smith, deputy commissioner and director of data protection at the ICO, explained: "The moratorium on enforcement action comes to an end, but please don't read that [as] the Information Commissioner's Office is going to launch a torrent of enforcement action.

"What it really just means is that complaints about websites that don't get consent go into the normal processes we would take in assessing whether to use our powers," added Smith.

The ICO is "most unlikely" to impose financial penalties on websites found in breach of the new regulations, he revealed.

"We're not about enforcing the letter of the law for the sake of the letter of the law," he said. "We cannot and do not rule out [issuing fines], but it is most unlikely that breaches of the cookie requirements will meet the criteria we have to satisfy before we can impose a penalty."