The European Union’s ePrivacy Directive (often referred to as the ‘cookie law’) places requirements on website owners and operators to provide information about, and gain consent for their use of cookies.
To help WordPress users in Europe who wish to comply with the regulations, we have created a widget that can be enabled from the Dashboard.
Cookie Information
WordPress sites make use of cookies for a variety of different purposes. Some cookies are only set for registered users, whereas others are set for all visitors. For more information, see our dedicated cookie information page.
The Widget
How to enable the widget
Enable the widget by adding it to the Widgets section in your site’s Customizer. It can go in any widget position, and will display the banner at the bottom of the screen when the site is loaded.
Note: The banner will only appear on posts or pages on your site that display the widget area where you add the widget. To display the banner on the front page of your site, be sure to add the widget to a widget area that appears there.
Features
- Hiding the banner – The banner can be set to be dismissed in one of three ways: when a visitor specifically clicks the button, when a visitor scrolls, or after a specific time. The minimum length of time is 3 seconds, and the maximum 1000. Once the banner is hidden, a technical cookie named eucookielaw is set, which prevents it from being displayed to the same user again for 30 days.
- Banner text – The banner will display a default cookie notification message, which can be customized if required.
- Color scheme – Display the banner using a dark or light palette. The relevant CSS selector is
#eu-cookie-law. - Policy URL – By default this creates a link to the Jetpack cookies policy. Should you wish to link to your own policy, you can do so by adding a page to your site, and inserting the link in the field below “Custom:”. After inserting the link you will be able to select the custom option.
- Policy Link Text – By default this is ‘Our Cookie Policy’, which can be customized as needed.
- Button Text – The text of the button that users will click to accept, or dismiss the cookie notice.
In addition to the widget, you may wish to add a link to the Jetpack cookies policy. This can be achieved by inserting a custom link into your menu.
Important Notice
Please note that it is your responsibility to ensure that you comply with the relevant applicable laws in your jurisdiction. This widget is designed to help you take steps towards this, but is not offered as a guaranteed or complete solution for compliance with the ePrivacy Directive.
External links
UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) Cookie Guidance
