EU regulation
European Commission
The EU's executive body, responsible for proposing legislation and enforcing EU treaties. Authority behind the European Accessibility Act, GDPR (with member-state DPAs), the Digital Services Act, and the AI Act.
Standards governed by European Commission
- Cookie consent baseline If you set non-essential cookies before the user explicitly opts in, you're failing the standard most regulators now enforce.
- EU ePrivacy Regulation (withdrawn) The proposed regulation that would have replaced the 2002 ePrivacy Directive. After eight years stuck in negotiation, the European Commission formally withdrew the proposal in 2025 — so the old Directive (and the cookie-consent baseline it underpins) remains the operative law.
- European Accessibility Act As of June 2025, e-commerce, banking, transport, and digital services in the EU must meet WCAG 2.1 AA — or pay fines that escalate per member state.
- GDPR If a single EU resident can see your site, GDPR can apply. Cookie consent, a real privacy policy, and not silently tracking by default are the visible signs of compliance.