As of the 26th May 2011, the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) guidelines require that websites owners have a plan in place to address EU Directive 2009/136/EC, commonly being referred to as the "EU Cookie Directive". The thrust of the directive is that websites must have the explicit permission of every user if they wish to use cookies on their website with the exception of functionality dependant sections of the site, such as shopping baskets.

The potential implication is that cookie-based web analytics solutions will not be considered an essential part of a website's functionality. The guidelines require that a mechanism, such as a pop-up window, inform every visitor to the website about its use of cookies and gain consent to set cookies.

In addition to our standard versions, eVisit Analyst currently offers a full suite of advanced web analytics reporting using a javascript tagging solution that does not rely on cookies or log files to function. Should you require an ABCe audit, our cookie free solution remains compliant to the standards required.