On 20 May 2013 a draft bill was published (for public consultation) under which the rules on cookies laid down in the Dutch Telecommunications Act (Telecommunicatiewet) will be relaxed. For cookies that "provide insight into the quality or effectiveness of services delivered via the internet and have little or no impact on the internet user's privacy", it will no longer be required to inform the user and request his consent pursuant to the Telecommunications Act. Examples of such cookies are analytic cookies, a/b testing cookies and affiliate cookies.

For tracking cookies the duty to inform and request consent will remain in effect. It should be remembered that the cookie rules also apply to other automatic data collection procedures such as the use of web beacons and device fingerprinting. As formulated in the Telecommunications Act, the rules apply to "the storage or accessing of information in a user's peripheral/terminal equipment".

Source: NautaDutilh - eNewsletter