A Softer Tack for Online Ads Marks Next Step in Data Reform

The U.K. ICO announced proposed updates to its online tracking and advertising strategy, including relaxing enforcement of cookie consent requirements for low-risk advertising cookies and updating guidance to reflect new exemptions introduced by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. Counsel Nicola Kerr-Shaw and associates Aleksander Aleksiev and Alex Smallwood discuss how the ICO's proposed enforcement relaxation for lower-risk advertising cookies and the DUAA's new exemptions mark a continued shift toward looser cookie consent requirements in the U.K.