What do the new tracking pixel regulations in France and Italy mean for GetResponse users?
Italy and France have both adopted new guidelines on the use of open tracking pixels (the invisible images used to record when a contact opens an email) in marketing emails. In short, both countries’ data protection authorities will treat an open-tracking pixel the same way they treat a cookie, which means recipient consent is required in most cases.
The new interpretations affect open rate tracking if you send emails to contacts based in Italy or France or if you as a sender are based in Italy or France. It doesn’t affect click tracking, which works differently and isn’t in scope of either guideline.
This article is for general awareness only and isn’t legal advice. How these rules apply to your organization depends on your specific setup. Please consult your local data protection officer or legal counsel to confirm what you need to do.
Who needs to comply
You need to pay attention to these guidelines when:
- your business is based in Italy or France and you send emails containing an open-tracking pixel to recipients based in Italy or France,
- you send emails containing an open-tracking pixel to recipients based in Italy or France, regardless of where your own business is based,
- your business is based in Italy or France and you send emails containing an open-tracking pixel to recipients based in other countries as you fall under national (Italian or French) supervisory authority audits.
Certain uses of a tracking pixel are generally exempt from consent, such as anonymized, aggregate open-rate statistics (not tied to an individual), and pixels used strictly for security, authentication, or some transactional purposes, but in some scope views of French and Italian national authorities differ between each other.
What’s changing in Italy
Italy’s data protection authority (Garante per la Protezione dei Dati Personali) adopted Provision No. 284, its first dedicated guidelines on tracking pixels in email. The guidelines were published in the Official Gazette on 29 April 2026, opening a six-month transition window.
Deadline: 28 October 2026
What is required: prior information about open tracking and opt-in consent before using an open tracking pixel that identifies an individual recipient, unless a specific exemption applies. Garante permits tracking consent to be collected alongside marketing email consent, provided the processing purposes are the same. For contacts already on the list after official publication of the guidelines, senders get the six-month window to inform recipients about open tracking in emails and offer a way to withdraw from tracking. This can happen in the next regular email sent to those contacts. A standalone notice is not required.
Source: https://www.garanteprivacy.it/home/docweb/-/docweb-display/docweb/10241943
What’s changing in France
France’s data protection authority (CNIL) adopted Deliberation No. 2026-042, a recommendation on tracking pixels in email, published on 14 April 2026.
Note: The CNIL’s text is an official recommendation. It explains how the CNIL interprets and enforces Article 82 of the French Data Protection Act (Loi Informatique et Libertés), which already requires consent for reading or writing information on a user’s device. The CNIL has said it will start checking compliance against this reading of the law once the transition period below ends.
In force since: 14 April 2026, when the recommendation was published. For contacts already on your list, the CNIL points to a three-month transition period – running to 14 July 2026 – during which you should inform recipients about open tracking and allow them to opt out; it isn’t a legal deadline, but the point from which the CNIL says it will start checking compliance. Any new email address collected after 14 April 2026 whose opens will be tracked needs information about tracking and valid consent from the start, with no transition period.
What is required: prior, freely given consent before using an individualized tracking pixel, obtained separately from marketing consent, plus an easy way for recipients to withdraw it at any time.
Source: https://www.cnil.fr/fr/recommandation-pixel-suivi-courriels
How to stay compliant and what is GetResponse doing about this
We’re aware of the guidelines regarding the use of open tracking pixels in email communications, and we’re actively working on the product changes needed to align with the requirements they set out.
You can disable open tracking directly in your message settings. Click here for a step-by-step instruction on how to proceed.
Further updates will follow. We’re not yet able to share confirmed details or a specific timeline for every further change, but we can confirm further adjustments to the open tracking feature.
We’ll update this article as soon as those changes are live.
