Three Takeaways For the TCF From This Week’s  Belgian Market Court Ruling, And What They Mean

This week, the Belgian Market Court ruling confirmed that IAB Europe was right to appeal the APD 2022 decision regarding the Transparency & Consent Framework. Here are three key take-aways and what they mean for the industry:

1. The TCF remains a best-practice standard that can help publishers and vendors comply with certain requirements laid down by the GDPR and ePrivacy Directive. 
2. The Market Court’s ruling clarifies that IAB Europe is only responsible (i.e., acts as a “joint controller”) for the processing of the TC String - just as the European Court ruled last year.
3. IAB Europe is not responsible for further processing of data for digital advertising, as the 2022 decision had alleged.  This is significant, as the APD’s qualification of IAB Europe as a controller over subsequent processing was the basis on which the APD purported to find certain legal bases facilitated by TCF to be invalid; this finding is no longer valid.  

This decision brings legal certainty to organisations seeking to maintain compliance with the GDPR.

IAB Europe's action plan, which the APD had approved in January 2023, already addressed the limited responsibility over TC Strings that the Belgian Market Court ruled on.  Most of the changes proposed in the action plan were released with TCF v2.2 in May 2023.  The remaining, minor changes can be readily implemented.

As those who have followed the case carefully know, the APD never held the TCF to be inherently illegal; rather, the 2022 decision mandated IAB Europe to make changes to the TCF and therefore to continue stewarding its development. The important milestone reached this week will inform that development going forward. 

APD press release (in English) here

IAB Europe press release here and FAQs here.