WEBSITES MAINLY USE COOKIES TO:
Identify users
Remember users' custom preferences
Help users complete tasks without having to re‑enter information when browsing from one page to another or when visiting the site later.
Cookies can also be used for online behavioural target advertising and to show adverts relevant to something that the user searched for in the past.
HOW ARE THEY USED?
The web server supplying the webpage can store a cookie on the user's computer or mobile device. An external web server that manages files included or referenced in the webpage is also able to store cookies. All these cookies are called http header cookies. Another way of storing cookies is through JavaScript code contained or referenced in that page.
Each time the user requests a new page, the web server can receive the values of the cookies it previously set and return the page with content relating to these values. Similarly, JavaScript code is able to read a cookie belonging to its domain and perform an action accordingly.
EUROPA websites must follow the Commission's guidelines on privacy and data protection and inform users that cookies are not being used to gather information unnecessarily.
The ePrivacy directive – more specifically Article 5(3) – requires prior informed consent for storage or for access to information stored on a user's terminal equipment. In other words, you must ask users if they agree to most cookies and similar technologies (e.g. web beacons, Flash cookies, etc.) before the site starts to use them.
For consent to be valid, it must be informed, specific, freely given and must constitute a real indication of the individual's wishes.
However, some cookies are exempt from this requirement. Consent is not required if the cookie is:
used for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication, and
strictly necessary in order for the provider of an information society service explicitly required by the user to provide that service.
Cookies clearly exempt from consent according to the EU advisory body on data protection- WP29pdf include:
USER-INPUT cookies (session-id) such as first‑party cookies to keep track of the user's input when filling online forms, shopping carts, etc., for the duration of a session or persistent cookies limited to a few hours in some cases
AUTHENTICATION cookies, to identify the user once he has logged in, for the duration of a session
USER-CENTRIC SECURITY cookies, used to detect authentication abuses, for a limited persistent duration
MULTIMEDIA CONTENT PLAYER cookies, used to store technical data to play back video or audio content, for the duration of a session
LOAD-BALANCING cookies, for the duration of session
USER-INTERFACE CUSTOMISATION cookies such as language or font preferences, for the duration of a session (or slightly longer)
THIRD-PARTY PROFILATION: We partner with Microsoft Clarity and Microsoft Advertising to capture how you use and interact with our website through behavioral metrics, heatmaps, and session replay to improve and market our products/services. Website usage data is captured using first and third-party cookies and other tracking technologies to determine the popularity of products/services and online activity. Additionally, we use this information for site optimization, fraud/security purposes, and advertising. For more information about how Microsoft collects and uses your data, visit https://privacy.microsoft.com/it-IT/privacystatement