Having a cookie banner does not mean your website is GDPR-compliant
Showing a cookie banner is easy. Making sure non-essential cookies wait for valid consent is another matter. Here is what Belgian websites should understand.
A banner is not proof of compliance
Most websites now display a cookie banner. That is useful, but the visible pop-up is only one part of the picture.
Belgium’s Data Protection Authority explains that consent, where required for cookies, must be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous. Visitors need a genuine choice, and that choice has to be respected technically.
A polished banner does little if marketing or tracking cookies are already being loaded before the visitor decides.
What should a good cookie banner do?
For non-strictly necessary cookies that require consent, visitors should be able to choose before those cookies are placed. Consent requires a positive action; continuing to browse, accepting general terms or using pre-ticked boxes is not enough.
The Belgian authority also highlights banner design. Making “accept all” prominent while hiding the refusal option can undermine a free choice. An option to reject all non-strictly necessary cookies should be available on the same layer as the option to accept them all.
Visitors also need clear information about who is responsible, why cookies are used, what data they collect and how long they remain active.
The technical side is often forgotten
A cookie policy can be beautifully written while describing something completely different from what the website actually does.
Implementation therefore matters. Are analytics or marketing tools loaded before consent? Is a refusal genuinely respected? Can visitors change or withdraw their choice later? Do the categories in the banner match the tools that are actually being used?
Those are technical questions as well as privacy questions.
Not every cookie requires consent
Nuance matters here too. Cookies that are strictly necessary to provide a service explicitly requested by the visitor can be treated differently from tracking or marketing cookies. Making a shopping basket work is not the same as following visitors across websites for advertising.
That is why a one-size-fits-all banner is rarely the best approach.
What does this mean for Belgian businesses?
Privacy should not be bolted onto a website at the end of a project as one extra page. Forms, analytics, embedded content, marketing pixels and external services can all affect how personal data is processed.
A good website therefore aligns three things: what the privacy and cookie information says, the choices offered to visitors and what the website technically does after that choice.
How Jolly Worx approaches it
At Jolly Worx, we do not treat a cookie banner as decoration. We aim to align its technical behaviour, visible choices and visitor information.
A web developer cannot replace tailored legal advice for every business. Exact obligations depend on the services and processing involved. But a website should not pretend everything is solved simply because a “Cookies” link appears in the footer.
A good cookie banner does more than ask for consent. The website must actually respect the answer.