When to use a consent banner (and which one)

Consent banners are required in more than 60 countries in the world and, depending on the country, a different banner type is required.

When will you need a consent banner?

You will need a consent banner when BOTH of these are true:

1. There is a tool on your site that saves information on the visitor’s browser, which can be used to identify this visitor and/or collects information that can be used to identify them. This applies to all tools from known ad publishers, like Google or Meta but can also apply to other tools. If you are not sure, then it is better to assume, that your tools collect such information.
2. One or more of your visitors comes from a country which requires a consent banner. This is because a visitor should see a consent banner on every website he/she visits, if it is required in the country they come from.

What types of consent banners are there?

Generally, we can divide consent banners into 3 types:

1. Opt-in banners – these banners will not let you track your visitors before they agree to tracking
2. Opt-out banners – these banners will let you track your visitors from the moment they come to the website, however if they decline tracking, you will no longer be able to track them.
3. Info banners – These banners simply inform people that they are tracked.

What countries require consent banners (and which ones)

Sections below contain lists of countries that require consent banners. The lists are divided into 2 sections because some countries may require a different type of banner, depending on how you use visitors’ data.

By the way. Since there are 195 countries in the world, the list may not be complete! If you see that there is an error, please let me know.

Which consent banner should you use in WP Full Picture?

If you are a user of WP Full Picture Pro, then we definitely recommend using one of the automatic modes. This way, visitors from different countries will see banners required in their own countries.

If you use WP Full Picture Free, then:

1. If your visitors are from different countries and consent banner is required in at least one of them, you should choose the opt-in consent banner as your safest option.
2. If your visitors are from different countries but consent banners are not required in any of them, you should choose to use a consent banner in “Info” mode. This way you will at least inform accidental visitors from other countries about tracking.
3. If your visitors comes from 1 country, you should see in the accordion sections above, if the consent banner is required in it and which one.

Sources and explanations

The information below is based on the data from:

• TermsFeed
• Legalit Group
• Securiti
• and information found online (linked below)

Information provided in some of the sources I used were contradictory. I have listed below the most important and serious contradictions.

• New Zealand – according to this article cookie notice is not required in New Zealand. However, it was mentioned as the country with the most strict laws (“opt-in required”) in the document by Securiti (link above). After further research, I decided that the information provided in the first source was accurate.
• the Philippines – according to this article, it is sufficient to notify visitors from the Philippines about the use of cookies. However, in the document by Securiti (link above) it was marked as “Opt-in required”. After some research, I found information provided in the first source as accurate.