The prohibition of tying means that consent is generally not freely given if a contract is made conditional on consent that is not necessary for its performance.
Content
When assessing whether consent is freely given, the GDPR requires utmost account to be taken of whether the performance of a contract is conditional on consent that is not necessary. The prohibition is therefore not absolute, but it regularly renders such consent invalid.
A classic example is an online shop order that can only be completed if the customer consents to promotional emails.
Relevance in practice
The prohibition of tying is relevant to prize draws, newsletters in exchange for discounts and so-called pay-or-okay models, in which users choose between tracking and a paid option. The supervisory authorities only accept such models under certain conditions, in particular an equivalent alternative at a reasonable price.
Legal provisions
- Art. 7(4) GDPR
- Standard for assessing whether tied consent is freely given.
- Recital 43 GDPR
- Presumption that consent is not freely given where it is tied.
Related terms.
Consent management Consent management refers to obtaining, documenting and managing consent, typically through a consent management platform on websites and in apps. Section 25 TDDDG Legal basis for processing The legal basis is the statutory permission on which any processing of personal data must be based in order to be lawful. Art. 6(1) GDPR 