The EU's plan to introduce the ePrivacy Regulation has failed. On 12 February 2025, the European Commission presented its 2025 work programme, which it had adopted the day before. In addition to many highly anticipated legislative procedures, it also contains proposals for some ongoing legislative procedures to be cancelled. This includes the ePrivacy Regulation.
The annex to the work programme states that no agreement on the ePrivacy Regulation is expected in this procedure. In addition, the proposal is outdated both technologically and legally in view of more recent legislation.
This means that the ePrivacy Directive and the national implementations thereof (e.g. in Germany the Telecommunications Digital Services Data Protection Act (TDDDG) and in Belgium the 2005 Act on Electronic Communications) continue to apply to the tracking of users using cookies and similar technologies.
You can find the European Commission's 2025 work programme here: 2025 Commission work programme.
