Precedent corpus / EDPB (European Data Protection Board)
European Data Protection Board
EDPB (European Data Protection Board) case GL-05-2020, decided . No monetary penalty.
We have not checked whether this decision was appealed. This is not a statement that no appeal exists.
No ConsentMark grade rests on this decision. It is published here because it is relevant enforcement, not because it bears on what a browser does before consent.
Regulator guidance (positive exemplar)
What the regulator decided
Valid consent requires "a clear affirmative act" by which the data subject signifies agreement; "the use of pre-ticked opt-in boxes is invalid under the GDPR" and "silence or inactivity on the part of the data subject, as well as merely proceeding with a service" cannot be regarded as an active indication of choice (paragraphs 75 and 79).
Primary source
Regulator-owned URL. Quote this in legal briefs and academic citations.
https://www.edpb.europa.eu/documents/guideline/guidelines-052020-on-consent-under-regulation-2016679_enConsentMark interpretation
Operator-readable note on how this case shapes the ConsentMark scanner narrative. Not a legal opinion; cites the primary source.
Non-enforcement document. Use this entry as the regulator-language anchor for the "consent-gated done right" zone of the scanner narrative - it defines what a compliant pattern looks like in the EDPB's own words. The verbatim quotes in `finding` come from paragraphs 75 ("clear affirmative act ... active motion or declaration") and 79 ("pre-ticked opt-in boxes ... invalid") of the consolidated v1.1 PDF hosted on edpb.europa.eu.
Verification trail
Checked against the primary source on 27th August 2026. Next review 27th February 2027.
Cite this case
@misc{consentmark-precedent-edpb-gl-05-2020,
author = {{ConsentMark}},
year = {2020},
title = {EDPB (European Data Protection Board) GL-05-2020 - European Data Protection Board},
howpublished = {\url{https://www.consentmark.com/precedent/edpb-gl-05-2020}},
note = {ConsentMark methodology v7.8.1}
}ConsentMark. (2020, May 4). EDPB (European Data Protection Board) GL-05-2020 - European Data Protection Board. Methodology v7.8.1. https://www.consentmark.com/precedent/edpb-gl-05-2020[EDPB (European Data Protection Board) GL-05-2020 - European Data Protection Board - ConsentMark](https://www.consentmark.com/precedent/edpb-gl-05-2020)EDPB (European Data Protection Board) GL-05-2020 - European Data Protection Board - ConsentMark, 2020-05-04, methodology v7.8.1, https://www.consentmark.com/precedent/edpb-gl-05-2020