← ALL REGULATIONS
Cookie consent in the Netherlands, under article 11.7a.
The Netherlands requires consent before a site stores or reads cookies that are not functional, under article 11.7a of the Telecommunicatiewet; analytics with little or no impact on privacy is exempt. The ACM supervises the cookie rule, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (AP) the personal data behind it, and the AP has been checking banners more strictly since 2024.
Telecommunicatiewet at a glanceOpt-in before tracking
- Applies to
- Cookies and any other technology that stores or reads information on a device, such as local storage, pixels and fingerprinting
- Cookie rule
- Telecommunicatiewet, article 11.7a
- Enforced by
- ACM for article 11.7a, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (AP) for the GDPR
- Guidance
- The AP’s nine ground rules for clear cookie banners
- Penalties
- Up to €900,000 or 1% of turnover for breaches of article 11.7a, a ceiling that doubles for a repeat within five years, plus GDPR fines
WHAT TELECOMMUNICATIEWET REQUIRES
What the AP expects from a Dutch cookie banner.
THE RULEConsent for tracking, not for functional cookiesArticle 11.7a exempts cookies needed to deliver the service a visitor asked for, and analytics with little or no impact on their privacy. Tracking cookies, and analytics that go further, need consent first.
WITH KATLAIn GDPR mode, the cookie guard refuses every cookie outside the functional category until the visitor chooses, and deletes any that were set before it ran.
THE RULEExempt analytics still has to allow objectionThe AP lets functional and limited analytics cookies rely on legitimate interest instead of consent, but visitors must be able to object easily, and the site must be able to show how it weighed their interests.
WITH KATLAKatla keeps analytics in its own category, and analytics waits for consent. There is no objection-only mode for exempt analytics yet, so Katla applies the stricter rule.
THE RULEEvery choice on the same layerAmong the AP’s nine ground rules: no pre-ticked boxes, accept and reject on one layer, no reject button that is hidden or harder to read, and no extra click to decline.
WITH KATLAAccept, Reject and Customise sit together on the first layer of the banner, and nothing is pre-selected.
THE RULEWithdrawing as easy as consentingVisitors must be told how to withdraw before they choose. The AP suggests an icon that stays visible or a link at the top of the cookie policy, so no one has to search for it.
WITH KATLAA floating settings icon, or your own "Cookie settings" link calling katla.open(), reopens the choice on any page.
THE RULEUsing a consent platform does not move the responsibilityThe AP warns that a platform’s default settings often fall short, and that the site owner stays responsible for the banner whoever built it.
WITH KATLAThe guard blocks non-functional cookies. Scripts tagged with data-katla-category wait until their category is accepted. A script left untagged still runs, so what it does besides setting cookies, such as sending requests, is yours to check.
Telecommunicatiewet questions, answered
A summary for website owners, not legal advice. Reviewed against the sources below.
- Who enforces the cookie rules in the Netherlands?
- Two regulators. The ACM supervises article 11.7a of the Telecommunicatiewet, and the AP supervises the GDPR, which covers the personal data most cookies collect. In March 2025 the AP asked the minister to make it the supervisor of article 11.7a as well; in the law as it stands, the ACM still holds that role.
- Are analytics cookies allowed without consent?
- Limited analytics cookies are, when they have little or no impact on privacy, such as counting visitors and the most visited pages. If they process personal data you still need a legal basis and an easy way to object; analytics that track visitors across sites need consent.
- Is a cookie wall allowed in the Netherlands?
- No. The AP says visitors must be able to use a website normally without accepting tracking cookies, and treats a cookie wall as prohibited under the GDPR.
- Has the AP fined anyone over cookies?
- Yes. In July 2024 it fined the company behind the Kruidvat chemist chain €600,000 for tracking visitors through pre-ticked cookie boxes, and reduced the fine to €50,000 on objection in June 2025. By November 2025 it had warned more than 200 websites about their banners, and about three-quarters had fixed them.
- Can the banner be in Dutch?
- Yes. Katla’s banner and generated policies are available in Dutch, and the widget can follow the visitor’s browser language.
See what your site sets before anyone asks.
The free plan scans your site, classifies every cookie and generates the policy, without a card. The cookie checker needs no account at all.