Last Updated: 4th May, 2023
A cookie is a small text file that a website stores on your computer or mobile device when you visit the site. First-party cookies are cookies set by the website you’re visiting. Only that website can read them. In addition, a website might potentially use external services, which also set their own cookies, known as third-party cookies.
Persistent cookies are cookies saved on your computer and that are not deleted automatically when you quit your browser, unlike a session cookie, which is deleted when you quit your browser.
Every time you visit the Commission’s websites, you will be prompted to accept or refuse cookies. The purpose is to enable the site to remember your preferences (such as username, language, etc.) for a certain period of time. That way, you don’t have to re-enter them when browsing around the site during the same visit.
Cookies can also be used to establish anonymized statistics about the browsing experience on our sites.
European Commission websites mostly use “first-party cookies.” These are cookies set and controlled by the Commission, not by any external organization. However, to view some of our pages, you will have to accept cookies from external organizations.
The 3 types of first-party cookies we use are to:
These are set by us, and only we can read them. They remember:
There are some cookies that we have to include in order for certain web pages to function. For this reason, they do not require your consent. In particular:
We use these purely for internal research on how we can improve the service we provide for all our users. The cookies simply assess how you interact with our website – as an anonymous user (the data gathered does not identify you personally). Also, this data is not shared with any third parties or used for any other purpose.
The anonymized statistics could be shared with contractors working on communication projects under contractual agreement with the Commission.