The sheet to print
Consent: the one-page file
Eight reflexes, in the order they serve, from the launch pop-up to the complaint. Each carries the text it stands on.
File EU 2016/679
This page is made to be printed: when printing, the whole screen around it disappears.
Law as verified onJuly 29, 2026
- 01
Look for the clear affirmative action
Consent is a freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of your wishes, by a statement or a clear affirmative action. “By continuing, you accept” describes none of those words.
Article 4(11) · Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Article 4 (Definitions), point 11 · eur-lex.europa.eu - 02
Demand the information before deciding
Why your data will be used, how long they will be kept, who will receive them, and what your rights are: all of that is owed to you before your agreement, in a clear and understandable way.
Section “No consent, no data processing” · Data protection: the information owed before agreement · europa.eu - 03
Never take a pre-ticked box for an agreement
Being able to opt out is not enough: you have to expressly opt in. A box ticked on your behalf reverses the burden of the gesture, and that is precisely what the rule refuses to count as a yes.
Section “No consent, no data processing” · Data protection: opting out is not enough, you must expressly opt in · europa.eu - 04
Refuse the bundle
In a document dealing with other matters, the request for consent must be clearly distinguishable from the rest, in clear and plain language. And any part of the document that infringes the Regulation is not binding, whatever the signature.
Article 7(2) · Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Article 7 (Conditions for consent), paragraph 2 · eur-lex.europa.eu - 05
Screenshot the cut-off threat instead of giving in
A service made conditional on consent it does not need is the criterion that must be given the utmost account when judging whether your agreement is free. The screen threatening you is an exhibit: keep it.
Article 7(4) · Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Article 7 (Conditions for consent), paragraph 4 · eur-lex.europa.eu - 06
Withdraw as simply as you gave
Withdrawal can be exercised at any time, with no reason to provide, and it must be as easy as the agreement. If the agreement took one gesture in the app, the withdrawal happens there too: a demanded registered letter is a tollbooth, not a rule.
Article 7(3) · Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Article 7 (Conditions for consent), paragraph 3 · eur-lex.europa.eu - 07
Know the limit: withdrawal does not rewrite the past
The withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent carried out before it. It cuts off the future. Demanding the annulment of a past covered by a valid agreement undermines the rest of the file.
Article 7(3) · Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Article 7 (Conditions for consent), paragraph 3 · eur-lex.europa.eu - 08
Demand the demonstration, then go to the authority
The proof of consent is the controller's burden: the gesture, the date, the information given. If all they produce is an assertion, lodge the complaint with your country's authority: the official page of the Union states an answer within three months.
Article 7(1) · Regulation (EU) 2016/679, Article 7 (Conditions for consent), paragraph 1 · eur-lex.europa.eu
General information on the European baseline, not legal advice on your case. Independent educational site, unconnected to the institutions of the European Union. The redress links in this file point only to official bodies.
Sources checked on July 29, 2026. · https://depleindroit.odersa.org/en/fiches/les-conditions-mises-a-jour · Content licensed under CC BY 4.0.
What the law owes you
Every right with its amount or its deadline, the extract of the official text it rests on, and its address.
An agreement with an official definition
A freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of your wishes, given by a statement or by a clear affirmative action. Every word is a condition: carrying on using a service is neither unambiguous nor an action that says yes to a precise processing operation.
The official text · Article 4(11)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679“‘consent' of the data subject means any freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the data subject's wishes by which he or she, by a statement or by a clear affirmative action, signifies agreement to the processing of personal data relating to him or her;”
The information owed before you decide
Before you signal any agreement, you must be given the reason your data will be used, how long they will be kept, who will receive them, and your rights, including the withdrawal of consent. All of it presented in a clear and understandable way.
The official text · Section “No consent, no data processing”
Your Europe · European Union · https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/internet-telecoms/data-protection-online-privacy/index_en.htm“You should also be given the following information before you decide to opt in: […] the reason why the company/organisation will use your personal data […] how long they intend to keep your personal data […] details of any other company/organisation that will receive your personal data […] information on your data protection rights (access, correction, deletion, complaint, withdrawal of consent) […] All this information should be presented in a clear and understandable way.”
A request that must stand apart from the rest
Slipped into a document dealing with other matters, the request for consent must be clearly distinguishable from them, intelligible and accessible, in clear and plain language. And any part of the document that infringes the Regulation is not binding.
The official text · Article 7(2)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679“2. If the data subject's consent is given in the context of a written declaration which also concerns other matters, the request for consent shall be presented in a manner which is clearly distinguishable from the other matters, in an intelligible and easily accessible form, using clear and plain language. Any part of such a declaration which constitutes an infringement of this Regulation shall not be binding.”
The freedom of the agreement is assessed, and pressure counts
When assessing whether consent is freely given, utmost account must be taken of whether the service is made conditional on consent that its performance does not need. A cut-off threat is not a commercial argument: it is an exhibit.
The official text · Article 7(4)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679“4. When assessing whether consent is freely given, utmost account shall be taken of whether, inter alia, the performance of a contract, including the provision of a service, is conditional on consent to the processing of personal data that is not necessary for the performance of that contract.”
A withdrawal as easy as the agreement
You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time, you must be told so before you even give it, and it must be as easy to withdraw as to give. One tap on the way in does not become a registered letter on the way out.
The official text · Article 7(3)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679“3. The data subject shall have the right to withdraw his or her consent at any time. The withdrawal of consent shall not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal. Prior to giving consent, the data subject shall be informed thereof. It shall be as easy to withdraw as to give consent.”
Demonstrating the consent is their burden
Where processing is based on consent, the controller must be able to demonstrate that you consented. A register line that asserts, without showing a gesture, a date or the prior information, demonstrates nothing.
The official text · Article 7(1)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679“1. Where processing is based on consent, the controller shall be able to demonstrate that the data subject has consented to processing of his or her personal data.”
A complaint to lodge where you live
With a supervisory authority, in particular in the Member State of your habitual residence, your place of work or the place of the alleged infringement, whenever you consider that the processing infringes the Regulation.
The official text · Article 77(1)
Official Journal of the European Union · EUR-Lex · https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32016R0679“1. Without prejudice to any other administrative or judicial remedy, every data subject shall have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the Member State of his or her habitual residence, place of work or place of the alleged infringement if the data subject considers that the processing of personal data relating to him or her infringes this Regulation.”
This site is educational and independent: it is not an official site of the European Union, and this verdict is not legal advice on your case. The deadlines and wordings quoted are copied from the official text or the official page, whose link appears under each right.
File EU 2016/679
The items in this file
Every item has its own page. The situation is played here; what you keep, what you send and what you re-read live next door.