Court case W 108 2284491-1 – Court Ruling (Austria, 2024)

Court Ruling
Datenschutzbehörde31 July 2024Austria
final
ePrivacy
Court Ruling

An Austrian court ruled that a website's cookie banner was misleading and made it hard for users to reject cookies. The banner used pre-ticked boxes and lacked an easy way to refuse cookies. This decision shows that websites must clearly inform users and make rejecting cookies as easy as accepting them.

What happened

The website's cookie banner did not provide a simple way for users to reject cookies and used pre-ticked consent boxes.

Who was affected

Website visitors who encountered the cookie banner were affected by the confusing consent options.

What the authority found

The Austrian data protection authority found that the website violated GDPR by making it difficult for users to refuse cookie consent.

Why this matters

This ruling sets a precedent for cookie consent practices, highlighting the need for clear and user-friendly consent mechanisms on websites.

GDPR Articles Cited

AI-verified

Art. 21(GDPR)
Art. 5(1)(a) GDPR
Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR
Art. 7(3) GDPR
View original scraped data
Art. 5(1)(a) GDPR
Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR
Art. 7(3) GDPR
Art. 21(GDPR)
Art. 5(3) ePrivacy Directive

Original data from scraper before AI verification against source document.

Decision AuthorityBundesverwaltungsgericht (BVwG)
Reviewed AuthorityDSB
Source verified 12 April 2026
articles corrected
authority corrected
Full Legal Summary
Detailed

The website's cookie banner lacked an immediate reject button, used pre-ticked boxes, and made rejecting cookies more difficult than accepting them.

Outcome

Court Ruling

A ruling by a national court on a data-protection matter.

Violations (4)

No Reject Button
critical

Cookie banner does not provide a clear reject/refuse all button at the same level as the accept button.

Art. 7 GDPR

Reject Harder Than Accept
critical

Refusing cookies requires more clicks or steps than accepting them, or the reject option is less visually prominent.

Art. 7 GDPR

Pre-ticked Consent Boxes
high

Cookie consent checkboxes are pre-selected by default, violating the requirement for active, affirmative consent.

Art. 4(11) GDPR

Cannot Withdraw Cookie Consent
critical

No accessible mechanism exists for users to withdraw previously given cookie consent.

Art. 7(3) GDPR

Related Cases (0)

No other cases found for Court case W 108 2284491-1 in AT

This is the only recorded case for this entity in this jurisdiction.

Details

Ruling Date

31 July 2024

Authority

Datenschutzbehörde

About this data

Data: GDPRhub (noyb.eu)
Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
AI-verified and classified
Cookie relevance: 100%

Cite as: Cookie Fines. Court case W 108 2284491-1 - Austria (2024). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu

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