What are strictly necessary cookies?

Strictly necessary cookies are the ones a website cannot function without: login sessions, shopping carts, security tokens, and load-balancing markers. They are the only cookie category exempt from consent requirements under EU and UK rules, and everything else needs permission first.

The exemption test

A cookie qualifies only if the service the visitor asked for would break without it. A session cookie that keeps you logged in qualifies. An analytics cookie that helps the site owner understand traffic does not, because the site works fine without it.

Common mistakes

Sites often mislabel convenience cookies as strictly necessary: remembering a language preference or a newsletter-dismissed flag is useful but not essential. Regulators check categorization, so over-claiming the exemption is a known audit finding.