Cookie consent banners have become an unavoidable part of browsing the internet. Each time you visit a website, a pop-up appears asking whether you accept cookies or not. Over time, it’s become more than just annoying.
Not only do these banners clutter the screen and slow down websites, but they rarely achieve their purpose. In most cases, nobody reads the fine print—we just click “accept” to move on.
The good news? This could soon change. According to POLITICO, the European Commission is currently working on a revision of the ePrivacy Directive, the very law responsible for the flood of cookie banners. The goal: simplify the process while maintaining strong data protection.
A Well-Intentioned Directive Gone Wrong
The wave of cookie pop-ups stems from the 2009 ePrivacy Directive. At the time, the EU wanted to strengthen online privacy protections against increasingly widespread tracking practices.
The directive required websites to obtain user consent before placing cookies on devices—unless the cookies were strictly necessary (for example, to keep items in a shopping cart or maintain a logged-in session).
On paper, this made sense. But in practice, it became a legal mess. To avoid risks, most websites deployed banners for all cookies, even essential ones. Confusion and over-compliance led to an endless stream of pop-ups.
Today, most users don’t even read them—they simply click “accept” to move on.
A Long-Awaited Reform in Progress
In response to widespread frustration, the European Commission is now considering an overhaul of the ePrivacy Directive. The aim is to ease the burden on users while keeping data protections intact.
Several options are being discussed:
- Browser-based cookie preferences: Users could set their cookie choices once in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge, with preferences automatically applied across all websites.
- Fewer consent requirements: Some countries, like Denmark, propose exempting technical or basic statistical cookies from consent, since they’re far less intrusive than advertising cookies.
- Integration with the GDPR: Industry groups are lobbying to handle cookies under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which uses a more flexible risk-based approach. This would allow companies to rely on legal grounds other than consent, such as legitimate interest—a move strongly opposed by privacy advocates.
An Uncertain but Promising Path
Naturally, the reform faces opposition. Industry players want lighter rules to reduce legal burdens and improve user experience. Privacy defenders, however, fear this could open the door to more aggressive data collection for advertising.
As POLITICO notes, this is not the first attempt. Previous reform efforts—such as the 2017 ePrivacy Regulation proposal—collapsed, and the initiative was officially abandoned in early 2025 due to a lack of agreement among EU institutions.
For now, the Commission has launched a public consultation running until mid-October. A draft text is expected by the end of the year as part of the Digital Omnibus project, which aims to streamline several digital regulations. Negotiations between EU member states and the European Parliament will follow.
Bottom Line
Cookie banners won’t disappear overnight, but the groundwork for change is finally being laid. If discussions progress smoothly, browsing the web in Europe could (at last) become less frustrating by 2026.
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