The European Union’s E-Privacy Directive has been in effect since May, and many jurisdictions across the EU are already tackling its implementation. Belgium, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, The Netherlands and Spain have all taken action regarding the Directive. Moreover, the Article 29 Working Party recently adopted an opinion addressing the meaning of “cookie consent exemption.” This opinion aims to clarify the types of cookies that would fall within the exemption set out under the Directive. The amended E-Privacy Directive requires the user to consent to the use of cookies. This change requires that consent to the use of cookies must be “opt-in” (rather than “opt-out”). However, there has been some uncertainty as to how the measures would be implemented into national law by the different EU member states and whether the law would, in practice, require additional measures to be taken to ensure the lawful use of cookies. To learn more about the latest advances in implementing the Privacy Directive, please see our summary, available here. For US companies that engage in online activities involving the EU, the summary includes a general overview of considerations to bear in mind in the context of cookie compliance.