Developing
A draft under discussion, not law. National ambassadors were expected to consider it on October 8.
In 60 seconds
- MLex reports a revised Digital Omnibus draft dated October 2, 2026, to be considered by EU national ambassadors on October 8.
- It would shorten the wait before a provider can repeat a cookie consent request.
- It adds a review of data protection obligations, strengthens trade secret protection and says AI development or operation does not automatically justify processing personal data.
- The data part of the proposal, from November 19, 2025, remains in first reading with no final text.
Impact Layer
- What changed
- Member states' revision of the proposal shows how cookie-consent rules may be eased, though nothing has been adopted.
- Why it matters
- Consent banners and repeat prompts drive both user experience and the share of consented data, which marketers depend on.
- Who is affected
- Marketers, publishers and privacy teams that operate in the EU.
- Martech stack area
- Analytics, Data
- Stack impact
- No change to current obligations. Plan for a possible rule on re-asking consent, and review how often your consent banner re-prompts.
- Business impact
- Moderate Only a short summary of the draft was readable (the full article is paywalled). The exact waiting period is not stated in what we read; an earlier proposal text described six months after a refusal, per a secondary summary.
- Related technologies
- What to watch
- The ambassadors' discussion, the Council's mandate and any Parliament position.
MLex reported that a revised draft of the EU’s Digital Omnibus, dated October 2, 2026, would adjust several rules, and that EU national ambassadors were expected to consider it on Wednesday, October 8.
What the draft changes
- Cookie consent: it shortens the waiting period before a provider can make a repeat request for consent.
- Data protection: it adds a review of data protection obligations.
- Trade secrets: it strengthens their protection.
- AI: it clarifies that “AI development or operation does not automatically justify personal data processing.”
Where it stands
The data part of the Digital Omnibus, proposed on November 19, 2025, would amend the GDPR and move cookie consent rules from the ePrivacy Directive into it. A secondary report says it remains in first reading with no final text in sight. The original proposal included an Article 88a barring a repeat request for the same purpose for at least six months after a refusal; the revised draft shortens a waiting period, but we could not read its exact length.
Our read
This is a draft in discussion, so no obligation has changed. The direction is worth noting: regulators accept that constant prompts create “consent fatigue.” For marketers the practical step is to look at how often your banner re-asks returning visitors, because that is the behaviour a waiting period would limit. We read only a short summary of the MLex piece.
Sources
- MLex: EU Digital Omnibus draft adjusts rules on data protection, cookies, trade secrets (opens in a new tab)
Source of the draft date, the changes and the October 8 consideration. Only a short summary was readable.
- SecurePrivacy: EU Digital Omnibus, what Article 88a changes for cookie consent (opens in a new tab)
Cited in the search results for the original Article 88a proposal on repeat consent requests. Not read directly.