The Article 29 Working Party has adopted its opinion on the definition of consent this past July, clarifying the existing concept used in the Data Protection Directive and the e-Privacy Directive. The opinion breaks down the definition of consent, which is currently used as the legal basis for processing personal data, into several conditions necessary for it to be valid. Consent includes “any indication of wishes…signifying the data subject’s agreement,” but needs to be expressed in a tangible form by way of an oral or written statement. It also should be freely given, specific, well informed, unambiguous, and in specific cases, explicit. In addition, the opinion includes several proposals to be considered in the review of the Data Protection Directive.
