Privacy Regulations in Austria

The GDPR sets the global standard for data protection, requiring explicit opt-in consent before processing personal data of EU/EEA residents. For websites, non-essential cookies must be blocked until visitors actively consent. Pre-ticked boxes and implied consent are invalid.

Article 5(3) of the ePrivacy Directive is the primary EU legal basis requiring cookie consent. It mandates prior informed consent before storing or accessing any information on a user's device, with narrow exceptions only for transmission necessity and explicitly requested services.

Austria implements EU cookie consent through Section 165(3) of TKG 2021, requiring opt-in consent for all non-essential cookies. A split enforcement model assigns TKG cookie violations to the Fernmeldebüro and GDPR aspects to the DSB. Cookie-specific fines are capped at EUR 50,000.