The application of General Data Protection Regulation requirements to affiliate marketing programs operating in the European Union and United Kingdom, encompassing tracking consent, data processing agreements, publisher data handling obligations, and cookieless tracking implementation. GDPR fundamentally affects affiliate tracking because standard cookie-based affiliate attribution requires explicit informed user consent before tracking cookies can be set. Key compliance requirements: Cookie consent — affiliate tracking cookies are classified as non-essential cookies under GDPR and require explicit opt-in consent from users; a cookie consent management platform (CMP) must obtain this consent before any tracking cookies are set; users who decline consent cannot be tracked via standard affiliate cookies. Data processing agreements — brands must execute data processing agreements (DPAs) with affiliate networks that process personal data (click data, conversion data, publisher payout data) on the brand's behalf; failure to have DPAs in place creates GDPR liability. Publisher obligations — EU-based publishers have independent GDPR obligations for the data they collect; brands should require EU publisher GDPR compliance in their publisher agreements. Tracking impact — GDPR consent opt-out rates in EU markets (15-30% of users declining tracking cookies) meaningfully reduce affiliate tracking coverage compared to US programs; server-side tracking (S2S postback) and cookieless tracking alternatives recover attribution for some of this unconsented traffic. Cookie consent decline creates systematic undercount: affiliate commissions generated in EU markets are likely undercounted relative to actual conversions due to consent decline; correcting for consent decline requires estimating a tracking adjustment factor based on conversion rate comparisons between consented and non-consented traffic segments.
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