14 DAY TRIAL // The EU Telecoms Reform Directive (TRD) which requires websites to ask users for permission before setting cookies on their computers will come into force tomorrow, however, UK companies will receive a one-year period to comply before facing fines.
The new regulation, which is commonly referred to as the cookie law, applies to all browser storage technologies that can be used in a similar way to HTTP cookies.
This includes Flash Local Shared Objects (LSO) and Silverlight or HTML5 local storage. The only exception are cookies that are strictly necessary for the service to function as intended.
The UK Information Commissioner's Office issued guidelines on how these new requirements might be implemented by companies, but did not give any definitive solution.
In fact, the government will delay the enforcement of the new regulations while it's working with browser vendors to find a uniform solution to tackle the issue.
Otherwise, if every company implements the requirements in their own way there is a great risk of confusing users and bombarding them with pop-ups.
"It would obviously ruin some users' browsing experience if they needed to negotiate endless pop-ups - and I am not saying that businesses have to go down that road," Information Commissioner Christopher Graham told the BBC.
"Equally I have to remember that this law has been brought in to give consumers more choice about what companies know about them," he added.
Mr. Graham announced that companies will get a one-year grace, but warned that he will not hold back from issuing penalties to those that make no steps towards implementation.
The ICO's own website has already conformed to the new regulations by displaying a header which informs users that a cookie necessary for the website to operate properly has already been set.
Visitors are also told they can opt to delete or block the site's cookies, but this will break parts of the website. A checkbox asks them for permission to set the necessary cookies which are fully explained in the site's privacy policy.