IAB Europe, a European-level industry association for the online advertising ecosystem, has updated its technical specifications for a GDPR-related framework aimed at helping the digital advertising ecosystem to comply with the European Union’s almost one-year-old privacy laws.

The Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF) was launched one year ago, in partnership with IAB Tech Lab, to provide a common framework to aid the entirety of the advertising value chain in complying with Europe’s data protection laws.

However, the framework has come under fire over allegations that it facilitates data breaches – claims IAB Europe vehemently denies.

Nonetheless, the industry association has introduced the TCF v2.0 in response to feedback from both the market and EU member state data protection authorities. This new version offers more transparency and control for consumers, greater control for publishers, and enhanced accommodation of the GDPR’s ‘legitimate interests’ legal basis for processing personal data.

It expands on the original five purposes for processing personal data, bringing the number up to 12; enables users to express their ‘right to object’ to a vendor through a TCF consent management platform; and brings more controls over whether and how vendors may use certain features of data processing.

“TCF v2.0 is an important evolution of the standard that is forward-thinking from a technology point of view, taking good account of regulatory guidance and market feedback, especially from publishers,” said Townsend Feehan, CEO of IAB Europe. “An exercise that is this inclusive of course takes time, but the outcome is a robust update that is fit for purpose in an environment of intense regulatory scrutiny.”

Dennis Buchheim, SVP and GM of IAB Tech Lab, added: “This release allows publishers, advertisers, and their partners to more easily comply with GDPR and also facilitates a better experience for users. We appreciate IAB Tech Lab member contributions and leadership in the development of version 2.0 and look forward to rapid industry adoption once the specifications are finalised.”

The IAB Europe Transparency & Consent Framework v2.0 is available for public comment for the next 30 days, ending on the one-year anniversary of the implementation of GDPR, 25 May.