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.

During this consultation period, IAB Europe hosted a webinar for CMPs/Vendors, 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 ascertain feedback and comments 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

An important component of the management of technical frameworks is continual consultation with its users and the broad base of stakeholders. For the TCF, that includes publishers, advertisers, media agencies, and technology providers.

Over the past 12 months, stakeholder feedback has been sought, most notably from the publisher community, providing valuable feedback on how the framework can be improved and better serve the community. This has driven the creation and purpose of TCF v2.0. In addition, feedback from regulators on TCF was sought and incorporated.

The TCF Steering Group was tasked with updating the policies to reflect this feedback that would inform IAB Tech Lab and the development of the technical specifications.

Working groups reporting, to the Steering group included the Policies Working group, who drafted the Policy, and the Purposes Working Group who redefined the purposes and features of processing personal data that the TCF supports.

The IAB Tech Lab, GDPR Technical Working group were responsible for iterating the technical specifications that manage and maintain the TCF reference architecture, protocols, and technological solutions to fulfil the new policy requirements.

Marking the one-year anniversary of the TCF the Policy and Technical Specifications of version 2.0 are presented for public comment. This is the first major new release and the only significant one planned for the year. Interested stakeholders are invited to provide feedback from the 25^th April to the 25^th May (30 days public comment period).

Public comment specifications and documentation:

• IAB Europe Transparency & Consent Framework Transparency and Consent String with Global Vendor List Format0 here
• IAB Europe Transparency & Consent Framework Consent Manager Platform JS API V2.0 here
• IAB Europe Transparency & Consent Framework Policies here

Submitting feedback on TCF v2.0

All feedback during the public comment period should be sent here for technical specification and here for policy documentation.

Want to find out more?

As part of the consultation process, IAB Europe will be holding two webinars to outline the proposed changes. These 1.5-hour information sessions will include a 45-minute presentation from key contributors to TCF v2.0 and a 45-minute Q&A session to ascertain feedback and comments from participants. Please see below for registration details:

TCF v2.0 for Publishers – Please register here

TCF v2.0 for Vendors & CMPs – Please register here

If you’d like to read the full press release about the public comment day launch, please visit IAB Europe’s news section. IAB Europe have also provided some FAQs to provide more information and context of the TCF and the updated framework presented for pubic comment.

What’s next:

Following the close of the public comment period, once the technical specifications and Policies have been finalised, detailed implementation manuals will be issued for vendors, publishers and CMPs. Additional webinars will be held for all stakeholders including agencies and advertisers.

Feedback on the Policies for Version 2.0 of the IAB Europe Transparency & Consent Framework should be submitted here - tcfpolicy@iabeurope.eu.

25th April 2019, Brussels: IAB Europe, the leading European-level industry association for the digital advertising ecosystem, in partnership with IAB Tech Lab, today announced it is making the Policies and Technical Specifications for v2.0 of the Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF v2.0) available for public comment.  The public comment period will last 30 days, until 25th May 2019.

The first iteration of the TCF was launched exactly one year ago, on 25th April 2018, to enable the digital advertising ecosystem to comply with certain obligations under the GDPR and ePrivacy Directive. It is the largest industry collaboration of its kind and the only compliance solution that was built by the industry, for the industry. The TCF provides a common framework to facilitate compliance with these data protection laws for every part of the advertising value chain, from publishers and technology companies through to agencies and advertisers. In addition, the TCF ensures more user transparency and choice about the processing of their personal data.

TCF v2.0 is the product of 12 months of reflection begun in the first half of 2018 in response to feedback from the market and from EU member state data protection authorities (DPAs).  The key changes in the new version are even more transparency and control for consumers, greater control for publishers, and enhanced accommodation of the GDPR’s “legitimate interests” legal basis for processing personal data, including the right to object through the TCF, alongside consent.  A new, combined transparency and consent string will consolidate all signals.

Users will see an increase in transparency and control in TCF v2.0 through:

• The expansion of the original five purposes for processing personal data to a more granular twelve, with a new, innovative way to present the increased number of purposes for ease of comprehension.
• Allowing users to express directly through a TCF Consent Management Platform (CMP) their “right to object” to a vendor processing their personal data on the basis of legitimate interest. Previously, RTO was handled outside of the TCF.
• More controls over whether and how vendors may use certain features of data processing, including the use of precise geolocation data.

Publishers will gain greater control and flexibility with respect to how they integrate and collaborate with their technology partners.  New “publisher restrictions” will enable them to restrict the purposes for which personal data is processed on a publisher’s site by vendors on a per-vendor basis.

By more clearly delineating different processing activities, vendors can more easily select the appropriate legal basis for their processing activities and publishers can exercise more granular control. By enhancing the TCF’s signals in a way that communicates vendor disclosure, or whether the user has objected to processing - independent of the soliciting and collection of user consent - TCF v2.0 more seamlessly facilitates lawful and transparent processing on the basis of legitimate interests.

Reflecting on the scope and timing of the update, Townsend Feehan, CEO, IAB Europe, said “TCF v2.0 is an important evolution of the standard that is forward-thinking from a technology point of view, taking good account of regulatory guidance and market feedback, especially from publishers. An exercise that is this inclusive of course takes time, but the outcome is a robust update that is fit for purpose in an environment of intense regulatory scrutiny.”

“It is vital that we update the framework based on feedback from those adopting or considering TCF, and as regulatory guidance evolves,” said Dennis Buchheim, Senior Vice President and General Manager, IAB Tech Lab. “This release allows publishers, advertisers, and their partners to more easily comply with GDPR and also facilitates a better experience for users. We appreciate IAB Tech Lab member contributions and leadership in the development of version 2.0 and look forward to rapid industry adoption once the specifications are finalized.”

This is the first major new TCF release and the only significant one planned for the year. For the next 30 days, up to 25th May, interested stakeholders are invited to review and respond to the proposals before the official launch of TCF v2.0 later this summer.

Following the close of the public comment period, once the technical specifications and Policies have been finalised, detailed implementation manuals will be issued for vendors, publishers and CMPs.

As part of the consultation process, IAB Europe will be holding two webinars to outline the proposed changes on 7th May (Publishers) and 8th May (CMPs and Vendors).  To register, and review TCF v.2.0, please visit www.stg-iabeurope-iabeuropeold.kinsta.cloud/tcf.

Media Contact:

Helen Mussard, Marketing & Business Strategy Director, IAB Europe

mussard@iabeurope.eu

Laura Goldberg for IAB Tech Lab

laura.goldberg@iab.com

+1-347-683-1859

Editor notes

Interested stakeholders are invited to provide general feedback on the Policy specifications for TCF v2.0. on IAB Europe’s website - stg-iabeurope-iabeuropeold.kinsta.cloud/tcf. Please submit any technical feedback to transparencyframework@iabtechlab.com.

About IAB Europe

IAB Europe is the leading European-level industry association for the digital advertising ecosystem. Its mission is to promote the development of this innovative sector and ensure its sustainability by shaping the regulatory environment, demonstrating the value digital advertising brings to Europe’s economy, to consumers and to the market, and developing and facilitating the uptake of harmonised business practices that take account of changing user expectations and enable digital brand advertising to scale in Europe.

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 improving the digital advertising supply chain, measurement, and consumer experiences, while promoting responsible use of data. 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 ExtremeReach, Facebook, Google, GroupM, Hearst Digital Media, Index Exchange, Integral Ad Science, LinkedIn, LiveRamp, MediaMath, Microsoft, Oracle Data Cloud, Pandora, PubMatic, Quantcast, Rakuten Marketing, Telaria, The Trade Desk, Verizon Media Group, Xandr, and Yahoo! Japan. Established in 2014, the IAB Tech Lab is headquartered in New York City with staff in San Francisco, Seattle, and London. Learn more at https://www.iabtechlab.com.

With this webinar on 25 September, IAB Europe offered a complete overview of the Transparency & Consent Framework to date including a deep dive into:

• Governance
• Policy Documentations
• Technical Specifications
• Practical Implementations

Speakers included:

• Townsend Feehan, CEO, IAB Europe
• Matthias Matthiesen, Director – Public Policy & Privacy, IAB Europe
• Julia Shullman, VP, Chief Privacy Counsel, AppNexux
• Jennifer Derke, Director of Product Programmatic, IAB Tech Lab
• Somer Simpson, Head of Product and Growth, Quantcast
• Pooja Kapoor, Head of GDPR & Data Trust Initiatives
• Christer Ljones, Head of Product advertising strategy, Schibsted Media
• Jonas Dobravolskas, Product Director, AdForm
• Stevan Randjelovic, Brand Safety Manager, EMEA, GroupM

Watch the webinar recording here.

This is the fifth in a series of working papers published by IAB Europe’s GDPR Implementation Group. IAB Europe’s GDPR Implementation Group brings together leading experts from across the digital advertising industry to discuss the European Union’s new data protection law, share best practices, and agree on common interpretations and industry positioning on the most important issues for the digital advertising sector. The GDPR Implementation Working Group is a member-driven forum for discussion and thought leadership, its important contribution to the digital advertising industry’s GDPR compliance efforts is only possible thanks to the work and leadership of its many participating members.

The working paper can be read or downloaded HERE.

In September 2017, we released in-depth research conducted by the agencies IHS Markit and GfK. This explored the importance of data to digital advertising and the EU economy, and how Europeans’ experience of the internet would change under the proposed regulation. It revealed how digital advertising contributes €526 billion to the EU economy each year, and how a large majority of Europeans would use the internet much less if websites were forced to switch to a subscription model as a result of data-driven advertising disappearing.

We know though, that numbers can never tell the whole story where a change as sweeping and significant as the ePrivacy Regulation proposal is concerned. That’s why we’ve spent the months since September reaching out to both digital advertising stakeholders and internet users themselves, to talk more about the role that digital advertising and data play in their lives.

Five short documentary films each addressing different questions that arise from the proposed ePrivacy Regulation

We’ve used this fact-finding journey to create five short documentary films each addressing different questions that arise from the proposed ePrivacy Regulation. These are available to view on the IAB Europe’s dedicated research site, www.datadrivenadvertising.eu

Filmed on location across Eastern, Central and Western Europe, our videos focus on five key areas that need to be considered for a careful and coherent approach to ePrivacy:

• Whether the advertising industry really spies on people
• How data is connected to innovation in Europe
• Whether data makes the user experience of advertising better or worse
• The impact of data-driven advertising on the EU economy
• What happens if digital advertising disappears from the internet

In making these films we uncovered a range of different views about the use of data for digital advertising, including very real concerns that people have over their privacy being protected. We also found significant misunderstanding about the type of data that online advertising industry uses, and a serious gap between the type of privacy protection that people want and the type of privacy protection that the proposed regulation will provide.

IAB Europe believes that the measures the European Parliament takes to protect people’s privacy must be based on facts not myths. Since the launch of our initial research findings, we have continued to provide European policymakers, and most recently the Bulgarian Presidency with data and analysis on the likely impact of the regulation, and meaningful feedback from relevant specialists.

Among others, we are encouraged by the Bulgarian Presidency’s recent introduction of the long overdue security and fraud prevention exemption for online services in ePrivacy Regulation text. The industry requires flexibility to justify data processing in situations where relying on the consent of the user is not possible, feasible, or preferable.

We also recognise and welcome the Council’s clarification that access to an online service may be made conditional on users accepting that their personal data will be lawfully processed to deliver interest-based advertising in full compliance with the GDPR. It is a critical requirement that allows the existing ad-supported internet to continue functioning and flourishing. Any future ePrivacy Regulation must leave European publishers free to determine the optimal business model for their online content and services. Preventing the media from monetising their content through the data-driven advertising model, will result in less investment in quality, independent journalism and content, and eventually disproportionately affect the European citizenry and economy more broadly.

Appreciating the progress made so far, further improvements are yet necessary as we are seeking for the ePrivacy to embrace the GDPR’s principles-based approach. We stand ready to support the Council and the upcoming Austrian Presidency in their efforts to produce a coherent and considered final regulation, and these films are part of this effort. They help to demystify the digital advertising industry and bring much-needed clarity to the question of how data is used. They also show how EU citizens would have their choices and their experience of the internet severely curtailed by the unintended consequences of the wrong approach.

Visit www.datadrivenadvertising.eu to watch the films and explore our in-depth research into the role that data plays in the EU economy.

Watch the videos:

First video here.
Second video here.
Third video here.
Fourth video here.
Fifth video here.

The GDPR quite meaningfully changes the rules and conditions around consent as a legal basis for processing personal data. This blog post will address one particular rule, about which there is a great deal of uncertainty due to various misleading statements being made by individuals and organizations whose representation of the law is not rooted in law but ideology. Specifically, they claim that under the GDPR it is illegal to make access conditional on consent for data processing; or in other words that a data subject must be able to refuse to give consent while still having access to the service.

The rule in question is GDPR Article 7(4):

“When assessing whether consent is freely given, utmost account shall be taken of whether, inter alia, the performance of a contract, including the provision of a service, is conditional on consent to the processing of personal data that is not necessary for the performance of that contract.”

This rule stipulates, in essence, that one needs to consider whether the fact that access to a service to which the data subject seeks access is conditional on a data subject consenting to data processing. A careful reading of this provision reveals that the words “prohibition” or “prohibited” do not form part of the rule.

This is no coincidence. This language has been carefully drafted with the specific intent of not establishing a general prohibition of such take-it-or-leave-it choices. Indeed, the European Parliament’s legislative resolution of 12 March 2014 read:

“[…] The execution of a contract or the provision of a service shall not be made conditional on the consent to the processing of personal data that is not necessary for the execution of the contract or the provision of the service […]”

As those familiar with the legislative process in the European Union know, the European Parliament is but a co-legislator with the Council of the EU also having to agree to a legislative text in order for law to be adopted. It did not agree to establishing a prohibition of take-it-or-leave-it consents and so a compromise was reached that fell short of a prohibition of the practice, while creating the possibility for the practice to be unlawful in certain circumstances – “utmost account shall be taken of whether” consent to processing  of personal is a condition for provision of a service, as opposed to “provision of a service shall not be made conditional on the consent to the processing of personal data […].”

The question thus is, when is it appropriate to make provision of a service conditional on consent and when not?

In IAB Europe’s view, it is perfectly reasonable for a publisher to refuse access to its content to users who do not agree to the publisher processing data to display data-driven advertising to monetize the content. Just like any other private provider of commercial goods and services can refuse access to their offering, unless terms, conditions, and payment are accepted by the consumer. Obviously, it must always be the consumer’s free choice to enter into the commercial agreement or not. It the very essence or the free market and respect for private property.

In other circumstances like the supply of insurances or public goods, where the citizen is without a choice, e.g. healthcare, schools, drivers licenses, etc. it is reasonable that these services must be provided even if the citizen does not want to consent to processing of the personal data for commercial purposes.

Luckily, for the moment the ePrivacy Directive, which complements and particularizes the general rules of the GDPR, states that “[a]ccess to specific website content may still be made conditional on the well-informed acceptance of a cookie or similar device, if it is used for a legitimate purpose,” such as advertising.

In this blog series, IAB Europe’s Programmatic Trading Committee and its members assess the impact and the opportunities of the GDPR on Programmatic Trading. In the first blog MediaMath and Sublime Skinz look at the unique opportunity that the IAB Europe Transparency & Consent Framework (the Framework) presents for the publisher community.

You can read the first blog in this series here.

Lisa Kalyuzhny, Director Advertising Solutions - PubMatic

We are now a few days away from GDPR coming into effect and some industry publications are calling GDPR a “reckoning” that is creating fear and panic for many companies. The prevailing sentiment is that the data on which our industry relies are being threatened by increased regulation. While we can appreciate the concern, it is important to remember that GDPR builds upon existing EU privacy laws in which PubMatic has been involved in for years. With a little preparation and additional understanding, we can all be ready for 25 May.

Two key elements to being prepared are understanding the important roles played by ad tech companies under GDPR and understanding how consent requirements are being addressed. PubMatic is typically a controller (not a processor) because of the role we play in data processing. For example, we may choose to pre-filter impressions for RTB auctions with third-party buyers, or to analyse or track data for ad delivery and reporting.

With regard to user consent, PubMatic supports IAB Europe’s Transparency and Consent Framework, which allows user consents to be passed with bid requests to DSPs and buyers. In addition, PubMatic supports contextual, non-targeted ads for DSPs.

Even when a user does not consent, buyers and publishers still have options. When there is no historical cookie data to rely upon when serving an ad, contextual advertising will still be available. With contextual advertising, brands can serve ads to consumers based on the content they are engaging with at the moment. For this to work well, buyers and publishers will need to work together. Buyers will likely need to work with solutions that serve ads based on semantic or contextual factors. While this provides a viable means of advertising, it could lower fill and monetization rates.

PubMatic is ready for 25 May and we are dedicated to working with our partners to also prepare.

Charlie Simon, Policy and Product Privacy Manager, MediaMath

MediaMath has committed enormous resources to readying itself, and the industry, for the GDPR, which comes into force on Friday 25 May. While anticipated regulatory scrutiny plays a part in these efforts, it does not tell the whole story. Namely, that MediaMath believes in the spirit of the law, that Internet users have rights to better understand, and make informed decisions about, the use of their personal data. To that end, MediaMath’s Data Policy & Governance, Legal, Product, and Engineering teams are working cooperatively with partners and competitors, publishers and advertisers, to assess and address the GDPR’s requirements from administrative and technical standpoints. We have designed, built, and deployed products and services that help our clients comply with European regulations, while achieving successful marketing and business outcomes.

It is certainly true that every company in every industry that handles the personal data of Europeans has had a great deal of work to do. However, the advertising technology ecosystem has had more. MediaMath took on an industry leadership role early on, as chair of the IAB Europe’s Working Group on Consent, to bring together advertisers, publishers and technology providers to develop effective compliance solutions for the entire digital marketing industry, the result of which was the IAB Europe Transparency and Consent Framework (‘the Framework’). The Framework has been designed to offer all players in the advertising ecosystem a transparent and auditable chain of communication surrounding the use and processing of consumer data. We encourage both advertisers and publishers to adopt the Framework for the benefit of themselves and Industry.

Many see 25 May as a finish line, but the reality is that the day the GDPR comes into force is just the start. Businesses will need to continue adapting as data protection authorities, courts, and consumer advocates begin weighing in on what the GDPR means to them. And no one should forget about the ePrivacy Regulation just around the corner. I suspect this paradigm shift in the way personal data is regulated is not confined to Europe, that we will see a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape around the globe. Whatever may come, MediaMath will be ready, and will have benefitted tremendously from the technology its partners and IAB Europe have helped develop.

In this blog series, IAB Europe’s Programmatic Trading Committee and its members assess the impact and the opportunities of the GDPR on Programmatic Trading. In the first blog MediaMath and Sublime Skinz look at the unique opportunity that the IAB Europe Transparency & Consent Framework (the Framework) presents for the publisher community.

Lewis Rothkopf, General Manager, Media and Growth Channels, MediaMath

MediaMath believes that the GDPR embraces one of our core beliefs: that respecting consumer privacy is a necessity and an opportunity, not an option or burden. Consumers have long been telling us—through opt outs, ad blocking, and adoption of ad-free subscription services—that they are unhappy with the current state of advertising. This unhappiness stems from the perception that advertising is not balancing its capacity to provide engaging and informative content with the obligation to provide consumers with transparency about, and control over, their digital experience. For these reasons, the GDPR creates a valuable opportunity by encouraging advertisers to form more explicit relationships with consumers and provide advertising that they can feel good about, interact with in more meaningful ways, and trust.

Over the last 12 months, IAB Europe has developed a Transparency & Consent Framework (the Framework) in consultation with stakeholders across the industry which helps website operators become GDPR-ready. The Framework offers publishers new tools to provide transparency into the digital advertising ecosystem on which they rely to help monetise their service. Specifically, consumers are provided with clear information about data use by the publisher and its trusted partners. Another benefit for publishers is that they can collect higher rates from data-based buys, leading to increased revenue.

Additionally, the Framework offers the advertising ecosystem a common language by which to communicate consumer choices around the processing of their data for advertising and other purposes. The Framework is the best mechanism on the table today for advancing the ecosystem in a manner that benefits all stakeholders, including consumers.

Having been through a public consultation period which ended on 8 April, the final version of the Framework is set to launch mid-April 2018. (For more information and resources, visit the dedicated website here.) The registration process is now open for Vendors and Consent Management Providers to apply for approved status in the context of the Framework.

Andrew Buckman, Managing Director EMEA at Sublime Skinz

With enforcement of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) fast approaching, businesses across the globe are racing to prepare for the new legislation.

On the way to mastering GDPR compliance

Mastering GDPR compliance is vital within the complicated ecosystem of digital advertising, which is characterised by multiple vendors and highly complex data flows. If data can no longer be used to target users and personalise messaging, the advertising experience will become far less relevant and engaging, having a potentially detrimental impact on ad revenues.

But if the industry cooperates closely to meet the requirements of the GDPR, the regulation will bring enormous benefits to both publishers and advertisers – enforcing transparency within the ecosystem and building stronger consumer relationships. Transparency fosters brand loyalty – to both the publisher and the advertisers – and a recent data privacy survey revealed a staggering 88% of consumers cite transparency as the key to trust. To meet the challenge of compliance, the IAB Europe has developed a standard Transparency & Consent Framework for the online advertising industry.

The IAB Europe Transparency & Consent Framework is not just another GDPR compliance tool

IAB Europe’s Transparency & Consent Framework is a non-commercial, open source, cross-industry initiative. The Framework is designed for publishers to provide transparency and control for users allowing data to be collected and processed lawfully by their trusted partners. As a result it can be implemented by existing compliance tools.

A transparency tool that offers both user control and publisher control

Designed to accommodate different publisher and vendor needs, the Framework focuses on creating standards around transparency, control, and choice that can be implemented flexibly by different actors, including existing makers of transparency and consent tools. Providing transparency for both consumers and publishers into the monetisation partners present on websites and mobile apps, the Framework gives publishers control over which vendors operate on their sites, and consumers control over who is using their data.

A global list of vendors

Thanks to a centralised, industry-wide list of vendors that adhere to standard protocols and policies, managed by IAB Europe, the Framework makes it easy for publishers to decide who to work with. Finally, the Framework includes a fully customisable user interface for gaining consent as a legal basis for data processing, using standardised minimum disclosure language. This allows users to give specific consent for individual vendors and for different data processing purposes, while allowing publishers and demand sources the flexibility to work with various consent management providers.

A common language for the whole digital advertising ecosystem

The fact that there is a standardised language for providing transparency and requesting, storing, and sharing approved vendors and where relevant consent data along the digital supply chain means that companies can be confident in their transparency and consent status with a user.  Ultimately, by allowing publishers and vendors to operate according to a single, open source standard, the Framework offers a better user experience than if every publisher tried to master GDPR compliance on their own.

 A global push for data transparency

While the GDPR’s enforcement is seen as a defining moment for EU data privacy, it is just one element of a global push for data transparency. Last year, China updated its Cybersecurity Law to standardise the collection of personal information, while in February this year, Australia brought in the Notifiable Breaches scheme, obliging companies to notify individuals of a personal data breach that may result in serious harm.

The introduction of the GDPR has prompted countries outside the EU to review their own data laws to ensure they can still benefit from the global digital economy. If countries prove that their laws protect personal data on a similar level to the GDPR, the EU could accept them as adequate third countries, allowing a free flow of personal data while ensuring a high level of protection. This is the mechanism the UK will use after Brexit, and the EU is currently working with countries such as Japan and South Korea on similar adequacy decisions.

Taking part in this global push for transparency by ensuring they are GDPR compliant may seem a daunting prospect for publishers. But, by implementing IAB Europe’s Transparency & Consent Framework, they can make use of a global vendor list and standardised consent mechanisms that will still allow them to benefit from targeted, personalised advertising, served to engaged and accepting audiences.

The second blog in this series is available here.