MPs from the Liberal democratic party D66 have submitted an amendment to the Netherlands’ tough new cookie laws to make it easier for websites to place functional tracking software.

Since June, it has been illegal for Dutch websites to install cookies on visitors’ computers unless they have expressly given permission.
Cookies are small pieces of code which allow websites and advertisers to track user movements and remember information. Dutch legislation goes further than EU rules and has been widely criticised.
The D66 proposal would divide cookies into three types: functional ones which allow websites to operate properly (such as shopping baskets on web shops), cookies placed by the website and which are not shared with third parties, and third party tracking cookies.
Commercial information
‘D66 thinks it is right that the commercial use of personal information obtained through cookies should require permission,’ D66 MP Kees Verhoeven told website nu.nl.
‘Many companies are complaining because of the commercial impact [of the Dutch rules] and because the law is unclear,’ he said.
Last month public broadcasters said they would have to ban all visitors who did not agree to the placement of cookies from their websites because they are required to collect visitor information by law.
Under the D66 plan, the use of cookies to collect statistics would be allowed without express permission as long as they are not shared with third parties, such as Google.

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