Important Note: The Implementation deadline of TCF v2.have been moved from September 30th 2023 to November 20th 2023. More information here

In order to respond to the changes and needs of the market, while continuing to help players in the online ecosystem comply with certain requirements of the ePrivacy Directive and the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), the Transparency and Consent Framework (“TCF”, “Framework”) needs to be updated on a regular basis. In particular, constant evolutions in case law as well as in guidelines of Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) place ever higher demands on market participants in terms of data protection requirements. The TCF instances have therefore drawn inspiration from them to bring new iterations to the Framework. In addition, some changes are related to the Action Plan submitted to and validated by the Belgian Data Protection Authority (more information here).

IAB Europe, in partnership with IAB Tech Lab, is committed to continuous improvement and development of the Framework through industry collaboration to meet the needs of users and regulators. The iterations brought by the TCF v2.2 aim to bring further standardisation of the information and choices that should be provided to users over the processing of their personal data, and to how these choices should be captured, communicated and respected.

TCF v2.2 will be launched mid-May and TCF participants will have until the end of Q3 2023 to make the necessary changes to their respective implementations. All iterations have been developed to avoid breaking changes to the existing v2.1 Technical Specifications and facilitate their adoption in a timely manner by CMPs and Vendors.

To help the market anticipate these upcoming changes, this article provides an overview of the different amendments to the TCF Policies and Technical Specifications. In the run up to the launch of TCF v2.2, IAB Europe is hosting a series of webinars to offer full support and guidance to CMPs, Vendors and Publishers. Recording of previous webinars can be found at the end of this blogpost.  

1) Removal of the Legitimate Interest Legal Basis for Advertising & Content Personalisation 

The current version of the TCF Policies allows the use of legitimate interest or consent to carry out data processing operations for Purposes 3 (Create a personalised ads profile), 4 (Select personalised ads), 5 (Create a personalised content profile) and 6 (Select personalised content). The TCF Policies will be amended to remove “legitimate interest” as an acceptable legal basis for these Purposes. As a consequence, within the scope of the TCF, Vendors will only be able to select consent as an acceptable legal basis for these Purposes at registration level. 

2) Improvements to the Information Currently Provided to Users in CMP UIs

• New user-facing standard texts

The Purpose names and descriptions will change. CMPs will be required to present improved user-friendly descriptions, replacing the current user-friendly text as well as the (currently) mandatory legal text. CMPs will also be required to make available illustrations based on real-use cases, which aim to explain to users how TCF Participants’ data processing operations relate to the Purposes.

• Introduction of new Features of processing to further explain possible means of processing 

In order to improve transparency over the means of processing used by Vendors in support of the TCF purposes, Vendors will be able to declare additional features at registration level. 

3) Standardisation of the Additional Information About Vendors Provided to Users in the Secondary Layers of CMP UIs

To provide greater transparency, Vendors will now be required to provide additional information about their data processing operation at registration level - so that this information can in turn be disclosed by CMP to end-users in secondary layers UIs.

• Standardisation of the categories of data collected and processed by Vendors 

The new TCF Policies will include a standard taxonomy of categories of data, from which a Vendor can select from at registration level. The Policies will include a new UI requirement for CMPs to disclose for each Vendor the categories of data collected and processed.  

• Standardisation of Vendors’ data retention periods 

Vendors will be able to declare, at the time of registration, how long (in days) they keep data for each declared purpose. Accordingly, the new TCF Policies will include a new UI requirement for CMPs to disclose for each Vendor how long they keep data to achieve each declared purpose.

• Legitimate interests at stake

Vendors will be required to declare what their legitimate interests at stake are, by providing at the registration level a dedicated URL where with this information can be found (e.g. a bookmark of their existing privacy policy). The amendment to the Policies will require CMPs to make this information available to users through the secondary layers of their UI. 

• Possibility to direct users to Vendors’ privacy documentation in multiple languages

Vendors will be able to declare during registration differentiated URLs to their privacy policy or legitimate interest statement for each TCF-supported language, where available. Publishers and their CMPs will have the option as a result to direct users to Vendors’ privacy documentation in the relevant language to improve transparency for users. 

4) Greater Transparency for Users About the Number of Vendors

CMPs will be required to disclose on the first layer of the CMP UI the number of third-party Vendors that are seeking consent or pursue data processing purposes on the basis of their legitimate interests. The TCF Policies do not impose any specific maximum number of Vendors, but Publishers are strongly encouraged to ensure that they only work with Vendors that are (most) relevant to them. The TCF Policies will include a warning that an unjustifiably large number of Vendors may impact users’ ability to make informed choices and increase Publisher and Vendor legal risk. 

To assist Publishers in the process of selecting the Vendors for which they establish transparency & consent, an additional Vendor Information List has been published (“B2B GVL”). It contains information that can make it easier for a Publisher to determine which Vendors are relevant for it. Information contained in the B2B GVL can be used by Publishers to, for example, avoid requesting user’s consent for Vendors that operate in technical environments and jurisdictions that are not relevant to their online services, as well as generally better understand each TCF Vendor’s scope of operations and whether it transfers data outside of the EEA. 

5) More Specific Requirements to Facilitate Users’ Withdrawal of their Consent

Publishers and their CMPs will be required to ensure that users can re-access the CMP UI easily to manage their choices (e.g. from a floating icon or a footer link available on each webpage, or from the top-level setting of the app).

If the initial consent request presented to users contains a call to action that enables user to consent to all purposes and vendors in one click (such as “Consent to all”), an equivalent call to action should be provided when users re-access the CMP UI to withdraw consent to all purposes and vendors in one click (such as “Withdraw consent to all”). 

Additionally, the TCF Technical Specifications will mandate Vendors (rather than only recommending) to use event listeners to ensure that any changes to TC Strings are proactively communicated to them and other Vendors. In the web environment, Vendors with access to Javascript will be required to register an event listener function (addEventListener) instead of using the getTCData command of the TCF API. In the app environment, Vendors must listen to IABTCF_* key updates to retrieve TC Strings from NSUserDefaults (iOS) or SharedPreferences (Android). 

6) Enhanced TCF Compliance Programmes

Since 2019, IAB Europe has developed Compliance Programmes to verify compliance of TCF Participants with the Policies and Technical Specifications. These programmes will be expanded, with new auditing mechanisms and differentiated enforcement procedures. 

All auditing mechanisms and verifications susceptible to be performed in the context of the TCF Compliance Programme will be described and published in a public Control Catalogue, to help TCF participants in assessing and reviewing the compliance of their TCF implementations. In addition to the Control Catalogue, IAB Europe will release a new version of the CMP Validator Chrome Extension that will be publicly available.

IAB Europe will increase the volume of proactive auditing of CMPs and Vendors that will be randomly selected each month, and will also act upon reports of non-compliance from the market or from end-users by making available a dedicated form to submit a complaint.

Vendors and CMPs will be subject to differentiated procedure according to the nature of the non-compliance. In particular, any tampering with or falsification of TC String will result in immediate suspension from the Framework for a minimum of four weeks, and will be notified publicly. 

7) Reminder: Revocation of the consensu.org Subdomains 

Support for Global-scope was deprecated in June 2021 due to negligible use by Publishers (less than 0,5%) and compliance considerations. The deprecation required CMPs to delete all existing euconsent-v2 cookies associated with the consensu.org domain. IAB Europe will now remove all consensu.org subdomain delegations to CMPs’ nameservers (which had previously been provided upon registration). As a result, CMPs will no longer be able to host their scripts on their consensu.org subdomain, and this in turn technically prevents them from setting and accessing cookies on the consensu.org domain.

CMPs currently hosting their scripts on their consensu.org subdomains will need to host them on a different domain. Their Publisher clients will need to redeploy a new script on their digital properties before July 10th (see notification here). 

How Should TCF Participants Prepare ?

• Vendors will be required to review and update their TCF registration, by providing additional information about their data processing operations covered by their implementation of the Framework. Moreover, they will be required to verify that they have properly implemented the use of the event listeners to retrieve users’ choices in real-time, where applicable. 
• CMPs will need to read a new version of the Global Vendor List that contains additional information about Vendors, in order to build improved CMP UIs. They will be required to ensure that all the new disclosures are implemented in their live installations. CMPs should also make sure that users can easily withdraw consent when they resurface the CMP UI. 
• Publishers are strongly encouraged to review the subset of Vendors for which they establish transparency and consent, notably by using the information provided in the B2B GVL. They also need to ensure that the CMP deployed on their properties can be easily resurfaced by users (e.g. at the bottom of webpages, through floating icons). 

Changes to the TCF Technical Specifications

The changes to the TCF technical specifications are open for public comment until May 12th, 2023 and can be found here. Comments may be submitted via email to transparencyframework@iabtechlab.com. The technical changes included in TCF v2.2 are also outlined in IAB Tech Lab's blog post here.

Support Workshops for TCF Participants

Hosted in 1 hour-long webinar formats, TCF experts went through everything that is needed to fully implement TCF v2.2. All webinars featured Q&A sessions and have been recorded.

[Video Recordings]

Session 1: Overview of the main differences between the TCF policies 3.5 & 4.0

An overview of the main differences in policies between v2.1 & v2.2. This session is for all TCF stakeholders. Watch the recording here. 

Session 2: Overview of the changes to the TCF technical specifications between v2.1 & v2.2

An overview of the changes to the TCF technical specifications between v2.1 & v2.2. This session is to help CMPs and Vendors navigate the different technical resources. Watch the recording here. 

Vendors

Webinar recording to give an overview of the changes for Vendors implementing the TCF can be watched here and the presentation deck can be downloaded here. 

CMPs

Webinar recording to give an overview of the changes for CMPs implementing the TCF can be watched here and the presentation deck can be downloaded here. 

Publishers

Webinar recording to give an overview of the changes for Publishers implementing the TCF can be watched here and the presentation deck can be downloaded here.

Want to know how one CMP has successfully implemented v2.0 of the Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF)? Then read our Q&A with Matthias Matthiesen, Senior Privacy Counsel from Quantcast, an audience intelligence and measurement company. Combining machine learning, a privacy-by-design approach, and live data drawn from more than 100 million online destinations, Quantcast provides software, information and advertising services for marketers, publishers and advertising agencies worldwide.

What has been Quantcast’s role in the TCF?

Quantcast has been involved in the creation of the TCF from the very beginning, since before TCF had its name. Later, we were one of the driving forces behind the solution, and one of the first companies to provide engineering and product resources to IAB Europe to help draft the TCF’s original technical specifications. When the TCF was launched, Quantcast was an early adopter and fully integrated as a vendor. Quantcast also began offering one of the first TCF-compliant CMPs, Quantcast Choice, to publishers and advertisers for free. We have continued our leadership in the TCF ever since, including in its first major update to v2.0.

Why should publishers transition to TCF v2.0 CMPs? 

TCF v2.0 is a major overhaul, which enables greater transparency and more granular control for everyone involved. It incorporates feedback from key stakeholders in the industry, including updated guidelines provided by various DPAs. If you want to ensure the CMP on your site is updated to the latest guidelines by DPAs and provides you with the most flexibility and controls, then you should start the transition to a TCF v2.0 CMP now.

What advice would you give to publishers who are concerned about the required work to make the transition?

You’re not on your own when upgrading to TCF v2.0. Quantcast Choice is designed to fully integrate with TCF v2.0, including all updates. We’ve worked diligently to test and refine an interface that presents the clearest message to end users, while following the requirements. For more information, you can visit quantcast.com/choice.

When did you start planning your TCF v2.0 switch over?

Quantcast started planning our TCF v2.0 switch over when the final specifications and policies were released in Q3 2019. We are on target to be fully integrated with TCF v2.0 by the time it launches at the end of Q1 2020. Quantcast Choice will support TCF v2.0 for our customers beginning April 1 and following the IAB’s switchover timeline.

Which teams should be involved in the switchover? 

Implementing TCF v2.0 is a project that requires a cross-functional group of teams spanning multiple product and engineering teams, as well as an organization’s legal team. We recommend publishers and vendors start cross-functional collaboration early.

How long does the transition process take? 

All in all, to complete the initial integration required to update to TCF v2.0 has taken Quantcast about six months. That is not to say that the work is done. Quantcast Choice will continue to evolve with focus on ease of use for our customers in an ever-changing privacy and regulatory landscape.

For publishers and vendors, the process will vary depending on resources, existing integrations with TCF v1.1, and any additional custom integrations. While it has taken us, as the CMP provider, six months, the integration work that needs to be done by a publisher can be as fast as 15 minutes if they have expert knowledge on TCF and plan to use Quantcast’s default set-up. Then the only work they would need to do is to set-up their site and put up a Choice v2.0 tag. Since TCF v2.0 is an overhaul and the signal is not backwards compatible, we recommend estimating time and effort based on your TCF v1.1 implementation process.

What are your top three pieces of advice about switching over to TCF v2.0?

• Involve your legal team early in the process. Understanding the policy and your company’s position are key components of the upgrade process.
• Start conversations with your vendors now. The TCF works because it’s the most adopted standard for the entire industry. To make the transition to v2.0 seamless, we need to make sure everyone is aware of and plans for the switchover.
• Make sure your CMP is IAB Europe-certified and compliant and to use your CMP’s TCF mode if it isn’t on by default. While the set-up for some CMPs is considered complicated, it’s worth the effort during implementation to ensure your CMP will be sending a TCF signal at all times and review the vendor set-up within the CMP.

At the end of Q2 2020, TCF v1.0 will no longer operate. This is the official deadline for all registered TCF vendors and CMPs to be signed up to and operating TCF v2.0.

Support Workshops for the Switchover to TCF v2.0

In the run up to the switch over deadline, IAB Europe has been running a series of workshops to offer full support and guidance to CMPs and Vendors. Presented by IAB Europe and IAB Tech Lab team members, they also feature insights and learnings from TCF Steering Group members.

Workshop 9 Recording & Slides - If You Don't Ask, You Don't Get! Q&A for CMPs

The final webinars in the TCF v2.0 switchover series were dedicated Q&A sessions. With thanks to key members of the TCF Steering Group featuring policy and technical experts, CMPs had the opportunity to ask questions relating to the switchover.

There were no slides for this session, just lots of questions! You can watch the recording here.

Want to catch up on the full series of workshop webinars? All recordings can be found here.

At the end of Q2 2020, TCF v1.0 will no longer operate. This is the official deadline for all registered TCF vendors and CMPs to be signed up to and operating TCF v2.0.

Support Workshops for the Switchover to TCF v2.0

In the run up to the switch over deadline, IAB Europe has been running a series of workshops to offer full support and guidance to CMPs and Vendors. Presented by IAB Europe and IAB Tech Lab team members, they also feature insights and learnings from TCF Steering Group members. Full details of the workshops can be found here.

Workshop 7 Recording and Presentation

Held on the 25th February, this webinar is an introduction to the CMP validation process for TCF v2.0. Presented by Patrick Verdon, IAB Europe's Technical Director, he explains the compliance process and does a demo of the validator. You can see the slides here and watch the recording here.

At the end of Q2 2020, TCF v1.0 will no longer operate. This is the official deadline for all registered TCF vendors and CMPs to be signed up to and operating TCF v2.0.

Support Workshops for the Switchover to TCF v2.0

In the run up to the switch over deadline, IAB Europe has been running a series of workshops to offer full support and guidance to CMPs and Vendors. Presented by IAB Europe and IAB Tech Lab team members, they also feature insights and learnings from TCF Steering Group members. Full details of the workshops can be found here.

Workshop 6 Recording and Presentation

Held on the 13th February, this webinar looks at the do's and don'ts of technical implementation of TCF v2.0 for vendors. Presented by Jan Winkler - CEO AdSpirit and Lon Pilot - VP of Engineering Global at GroupM , you can see the slides here and watch the recording here.

At the end of Q2 2020, TCF v1.0 will no longer operate. This is the official deadline for all registered TCF vendors and CMPs to be signed up to and operating TCF v2.0.

Support Workshops for the Switchover to TCF v2.0

In the run up to the switch over deadline, IAB Europe has been running a series of workshops to offer full support and guidance to CMPs and Vendors. Presented by IAB Europe and IAB Tech Lab team members, they also feature insights and learnings from TCF Steering Group members. Full details of the workshops can be found here.

Workshop 5 Recording and Presentation

Held on the 11th February, this webinar gave an overview of the technical implementation for CMPs. Presented by IAB Europe's Technical Director Patrick Verdon, you can see the slides here and watch the recording here.

IAB Europe, in partnership with IAB Tech Lab, announced on 21 August 2019 the launch of the second iteration of Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) v2.0. TCF v2.0 continues to support the overall drive of the TCF to increase user transparency and choice, management by digital properties of consent and compliance and industry collaboration that centers on standardisation.

At the end of Q2 2020, TCF v1.0 will no longer operate. This is the official deadline for all registered TCF vendors and CMPs to be signed up to and operating TCF v2.0.

Support Workshops for the Switchover to TCF v2.0

In the run up to the switch over deadline, IAB Europe has been running a series of workshops to offer full support and guidance to CMPs and Vendors. Presented by IAB Europe and IAB Tech Lab team members, they also feature insights and learnings from TCF Steering Group members. Full details of the workshops can be found here.

Workshop 4 Recording and Presentation

Held on the 6th February, this webinar gave an introduction to the different resources and libraries  that have been built to help CMPs and Vendors navigate TCF v2.0. Presented by Chris Paterson, Senior Software Engineer, Conversant and Jill Wittkopp, Director of Product at IAB Tech Lab, you can see the slides here and watch the recording here.

Under TCF v2.0, not only can the user give or withhold consent, but they can also exercise their ‘right to object’ to data being processed on the basis of legitimate interests. It also enables greater transparency for the user, through more detailed and more easily understandable descriptions of the purposes of data processing.   

At the end of Q2 2020, TCF v1.0 will no longer operate. This is the official deadline for all registered TCF vendors and CMPs to be signed up to and operating TCF v2.0. 

On 21 January, IAB Europe hosted a workshop webinar to provide guidance on how the UI should look in TCF v2.0. This session is for all TCF stakeholders.. This 1 hour information session includes a 30-minute presentation and a 30-minutes Q&A session to answer questions from participants.

Download the Presentation slides HERE. And watch the Video recording HERE

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• To get more information, please visit www.stg-iabeurope-iabeuropeold.kinsta.cloud/tcf
• To submit feedback on the TCF v2.0 Policies, please email framework@iabeurope.eu
• To submit feedback on the TCF v2.0 Technical specifications, please email transparencyframework@iabtechlab.com

At the end of Q2 2020, TCF v1.0 will no longer operate. This is the official deadline for all registered TCF vendors and CMPs to be signed up to and operating TCF v2.0. 

On 16 January, IAB Europe hosted a workshop webinar to provide an overview on the main differences in policies between v1.1 and v2.0 of the TCF. This session is for all TCF stakeholders.. This 1 hour information session includes a 30-minute presentation and a 30-minutes Q&A session to answer questions from participants.

Download the Presentation slides HERE. And watch the Video recording HERE

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• To get more information, please visit www.stg-iabeurope-iabeuropeold.kinsta.cloud/tcf
• To submit feedback on the TCF v2.0 Policies, please email framework@iabeurope.eu
• To submit feedback on the TCF v2.0 Technical specifications, please email transparencyframework@iabtechlab.com

Information videos

Want to get up to speed quickly on the TCF and TCF v2.0? Hear from the people involved in helping to shape and create the new Policies. Featuring members of the TCF Steering Group, these 90 second video provide digestible updates. Watch the videos below!

Video 1 - What is the TCF?

Video 2 - Who is the TCF designed for? 

Video 3 - Introducing TCF 2.0

Video 4 - What’s new in the TCF 2.0? 

Video 5 - User & industry benefits of the TCF 2.0 

Video 6 - Transparency Consent Framework v2.0

Stakeholder factsheets

Overviews of the TCF v2.0 for publishers, agencies & advertisers, Consent Management Platforms (CMPs), vendors and all stakeholders. Find all the information you need in these handy guides. 

TCF Fact Sheet - General

TCF Fact Sheet - CMPs

TCF Fact Sheet - Vendors

TCF Fact Sheet - Publishers

TCF Fact Sheet - Agencies and Advertiser

FAQs

Find out why and how the TCF was created and details on TCF v2.0 updates and technical specifications - FAQs

Update is part of an iterative process in further support of GDPR-compliant programmatic transactions

 21st August 2019, Brussels: IAB Europe, the leading European-level industry association for the digital marketing and advertising ecosystem, in partnership with IAB Tech Lab, today announced the launch of the second iteration of the Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF).

The TCF is an industry tool that supports companies within the digital advertising ecosystem as they manage their compliance obligations under the GDPR and ePrivacy Directive. This follows a 12-month review period which has included market feedback from all sectors of the digital advertising industry, notably publishers, and nine meetings with Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) throughout Europe.

Announcing the updates to the TCF, Townsend Feehan, CEO, IAB Europe said “The original TCF was launched to help a complex industry value chain manage their obligations under new regulations, notably the GDPR. With the number of constituents involved and disparate regulatory interpretations across multiple jurisdictions, it was essential that the evolution of the framework was handled sensitively, with the final specifications able to be adopted in a manner consistent with differing business models in a wide range of operational markets”. She continued “Whilst the TCF will continue to evolve to meet the needs of our dynamic industry, I am confident this update addresses all the feedback we have received from many DPAs throughout Europe, as well as the needs of each part of the digital advertising value chain.”

The TCF is comprised of technical specifications and policy documents enabling companies that participate in the delivery of digital advertising and personalised content to work under an appropriate legal basis for processing personal data in each market where they operate. It is a framework for publishers, technology vendors, agencies and advertisers to clearly and consistently communicate with end users about how their data is being used, while also providing an opportunity for users to object.

There are 28 markets within the European Union, with each possessing a DPA that interprets the rules regarding GDPR compliance in different ways. Equally, the commercial requirements of each part of the value chain, from publisher through to advertiser, are different and may have conflicting goals. As a result, it is important that the TCF is flexible in its approach, so it can accommodate these different constituents’ business needs and regional interpretations of the GDPR and ePrivacy regulations.

In the UK, it is well known that the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has taken a specific view, as detailed in the publication of its ‘Adtech Update Report’ in June. IAB Europe has continued its close-working relationship with the ICO and is confident this update to the TCF will allow companies to adopt a GDPR-compliant approach to RTB within the UK.

TCF 2.0 continues to support the overall drive of the TCF to increase consumer transparency and choice, management by digital properties of consent and compliance, and industry collaboration that centres on standardisation.

 “The TCF is the only privacy compliance solution that was built by the industry for the industry – and for everyone who benefits from digital media and services,” stated Dennis Buchheim, EVP & General Manager, IAB Tech Lab, whose members develop the technical specifications for the framework. He continued “The consumer is the principal focus of the TCF and the vision for version 2.0 was to provide clear explanations and choices to consumers regarding how their data may be used if consent is given, while providing greater control to publishers over how consent and other guidance is followed by their technology partners”.

The TCF Steering Group (SG) was tasked with drafting the new Policy documents and engaging with the IAB Tech Lab, which managed the technical specifications. With participation from 10 National IABs and 55 organisations, and EU-level associations, publishers, media owners, technology providers, and media agencies, the SG enabled an inclusive, fair and consensus-based participation of stakeholders to deliver the vision.

On the update, TCF SG member, Alice Lincoln, Senior Vice President of Data Policy & Governance, MediaMath said “MediaMath’s participation in developing the TCF v2 is a cornerstone of our mission to drive the industry toward greater accountability. The data subject rights to transparency and control prescribed by GDPR present an important opportunity to make overdue improvements to the digital media supply chain. Version 2 of the TCF will better surface how we connect people to the brands and content they value and give consumers and publishers alike greater control over who they trust to handle their data and for what purposes“.

Under TCF 2.0, not only can consumers grant or withhold consent but they can also exercise their ‘right to object’ to data being processed. Consumers also gain more control over whether and how vendors may use certain features of data processing (for example, the use of precise geolocation).

Tamara Daltroff, Director General of The European Association of Communication Agencies (EACA), said: “EACA is excited about the launch of TCF 2.0. We are confident that the changes will increase the transparency and choice provided to users who want to continue benefiting from content and services that they would otherwise have to pay for. For agencies, industry standards are a vital instrument to ensure consistent implementation, oversight and application of policies and technical specifications across borders. The TCF is an essential tool for them to ensure compliance with the GDPR and ePrivacy Directive.”

Publishers employing TCF 2.0 gain greater control and flexibility with respect to how they integrate and collaborate with their technology partners. New publisher functionality allows them to restrict the purposes for which personal data is processed by vendors on a publisher’s website on a per-vendor basis.

Commenting on how the engagement of publishers has driven the creation and purpose of TCF 2.0, Angela Mills Wade, Executive Director, European Publishers Council (EPC) said “The EPC and Publishing members of the TCF Steering Group were able to provide valuable feedback on how the framework could be improved and better serve the community. Under TCF 2.0, publishers can provide more transparency to their users with the introduction of clearer and more detailed purposes and standardised flexibility in how these purposes are described to their users. This enables publisher confidence in delivering more choice, transparency, and control to their readers”.

Commenting on these changes, Kate Teh, Group Legal Director, The Telegraph Graph said “Publishers are at the vanguard for securing user consent for the processing of their data. Whilst informed consent is the default for data which enables better targeted advertising, publishers also need to notify users when cookies and other technologies are used to administer their sites, for example analytics or ecommerce functionality. These use cases are considered a legitimate interest so it was important that the updated TCF incorporated this option for publishers. In doing so, we can deliver a transparent and consistent experience to consumers, with one platform managing the notification and consent process, ensuring consent signals are adhered to throughout the value chain”.

As businesses adopt the new updates, the TCF 2.0 will operate in market alongside TCF 1.1 through to the close of Q1 2020. This will provide publisher websites and Consent Management Platforms (CMPs) with an appropriate timeframe in which to adopt TCF 2.0. It also provides the vendors they work with sufficient time to develop and implement the code needed to adhere to the protocol of TCF 2.0.

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EDITOR NOTES

Additional TCF Steering Group Quote

“TCF v2 will provide more transparency, more choice, and more control for consumers and support publishers and brands in complying with EU privacy and data protection laws. As a participant in the creation and development of the TCF from day one, Quantcast is excited to see the release of this second iteration after more than a year of truly industry-wide collaboration.” Ari Levenfeld, Chief Privacy Officer, Quantcast

The Transparency & Consent Framework Steering Group:

There have been 55 companies from across the digital media, publishing, advertising and analytics ecosystems, alongside 10 National IABs that have collaborated on the TCF through their Steering Group membership. 

About IAB Europe

IAB Europe is the European-level association for the digital marketing and advertising ecosystem. Through its membership of National IABs and media, technology and marketing companies, its mission is to lead political representation and promote industry collaboration to deliver frameworks, standards and industry programmes that enable business to thrive in the European market. For further information please visit https://iabeurope.eu/

About IAB Tech Lab

The IAB Technology Laboratory (Tech Lab) is a non-profit consortium that engages a member community globally to develop foundational technology and standards that enable growth and trust in the digital media ecosystem. Comprised of digital publishers, ad technology firms, agencies, marketers, and other member companies, IAB Tech Lab focuses on solutions for brand safety and ad fraud; identity, data, and consumer privacy; ad experiences and measurement; and programmatic effectiveness. Its work includes the OpenRTB real-time bidding protocol, ads.txt anti-fraud specification, Open Measurement SDK for viewability and verification, VAST video specification, and DigiTrust identity service. Board members include CBS Interactive, ExtremeReach, Facebook, Google, GroupM, GumGum, Hearst Digital Media, Index Exchange, Integral Ad Science, LinkedIn, LiveRamp, MediaMath, Microsoft, Neustar, OpenX, Oracle Data Cloud, Pandora, PubMatic, Quantcast, Rakuten Marketing, SpotX, Telaria, The Trade Desk, Twitter, Verizon Media, Xandr, and Yahoo! Japan. Established in 2014, the IAB Tech Lab is headquartered in New York City. Learn more at https://www.iabtechlab.com.

For more information, please contact:

Helen Mussard, IAB Europe (helen@iabeurope.eu / +44 7399 919 594)

Laura Goldberg, IAB & IAB Tech Lab (laura.goldberg@iab.com / +1-347-683-1859)

Victoria Johnson, Too Many Dreams (victoria@toomanydreams.ltd / +44 7939 594 637)

Stephen Jenkins, Too Many Dreams (stephen@toomanydreams.ltd / +44 7957 803 685)

During this consultation period, IAB Europe hosted a webinar for Publishers, to provide a full overview on the TCF v2.0. This 1.5-hour information session includes a 45-minute presentation from key contributors to TCF v2.0 and a 45-minute Q&A session to answer questions from participants.

Download the Presentation slides HERE. And watch the Video recording HERE.

• To get more information, please visit www.stg-iabeurope-iabeuropeold.kinsta.cloud/tcf
• To submit feedback on the TCF v2.0 Policies, please email tcfpolicy@iabeurope.eu
• To submit feedback on the TCF v2.0 Technical specifications, please email transparencyframework@iabtechlab.com

Note: Due to the technical issues encountered in the first webinar, the webinar here above is a second recording. As a result the names or titles of the speakers may have changed between the first and the second recording.