Approving a cookie banner – versions and exporting evidence of consent
“Approve” is only possible once the cookie banner links your privacy notice and legal notice in every language and every service states its purpose. Each approval creates a version, optionally asking all visitors for consent again. In the “Evidence of consent” tab you filter the decisions and export them via “Export as CSV”; they are kept for 12 months, or 36 months at a surcharge.
The script delivers the cookie banner on your website only after approval. Each approval creates a version, and every consent record refers to the version visitors accepted or rejected. This is how you demonstrate consent under Art. 7(1) GDPR.
Prerequisites
- Your user group has the “Approve” right for “Cookie banner”.
- The cookie banner links your privacy notice and legal notice in every language (“Design” tab, texts section).
- Every service states its purpose in every language of the cookie banner (“Services” tab).
If one of these is missing, “Approve” is greyed out and names the reason. The top of the detail page then shows a notice about the missing links or the missing service purposes, with a link to the right place.
Approve the cookie banner
- Open the cookie banner and click “Approve” at the top right.
- The dialogue names the new version number and what has changed since the last version, for example services added or removed.
- Tick “Ask all visitors for their consent again” if all visitors should decide again. Without asking again, newly added services stay switched off for visitors who have already decided.
- Click “Approve”. The website shows the new version from now on.
If you change an approved cookie banner, its status changes to “In progress”. The website keeps showing the most recently approved version until you approve again.
View versions
The “Versions” tab lists every approval with version number, time, the person who approved it, whether visitors were asked for consent again, and the number of consent records for that version.
View and export evidence of consent
- Switch to the “Evidence of consent” tab. Every decision is listed there with consent ID, time, version, decision, chosen categories and domain. IP addresses are stored truncated.
- Search for a “Consent ID” or filter by “Time period”, “Version”, “Decision” or “Domain”, for example when a supervisory authority asks about a specific consent.
- Click “Export as CSV”. The export is created in the background; you receive a notification once it is ready.
Practical tip
Evidence is deleted 12 months after the decision. If you need it for longer, administrators switch to 36 months at a surcharge via “Change tariff”. Also export the evidence before larger changes to the cookie banner, so the records for the old version are available in one place.