French high court cancel parts of CNIL’s guidelines on cookies

According to the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP), France’s Council of State (the Conseil d’État) has ordered the French data protection authority (CNIL) to cancel parts of its guidelines on cookies and other tracers. In its decision, the court argued the CNIL’s ban on cookies walls was not valid, saying it “exceeded what it could legally do in the context of an act known as ‘flexible law.'” CNIL had indicated last year that websites could not use cookie walls that blocked users who did not want to accept the cookies according to the GDPR. But the Conseil d’Etat said that CNIL was mistaken “in concluding there was such an interdiction from the requirement of free consent to the placement of trackers by users” under the GDPR. According to TechCrunch,  the French Council of State also dismissed Google’s appeal against a $57M fine issued by the data watchdog last year for not making it clear enough to Android users how it processes their personal information.