A cookie is a small text file that a website stores on your computer or mobile device when you visit the site.
First party cookies are cookies that you receive while visiting. Only that website can read them. In addition, a website might potentially use external services, which also set their own cookies, known as third-party cookies.
Persistent cookies are cookies saved on your computer and that are not deleted automatically when you quit your browser, while a session cookie is deleted when you quit your browser.
Every time you visit the Commission's websites, you will be prompted to accept or refuse cookies. The purpose is to enable the site to remember your preferences (such as user name, language, etc.) for a certain period. That way you do not have to re-enter them whenever you come back to the site or browse from one page to another. Cookies can also be used to establish anonymized statistics about the browsing experience on Commission sites.
European Commission websites mostly use "first-party cookies". These are cookies set and controlled by the Commission, not by any external organization. However, to view some of our pages, you will have to accept cookies from external organizations.
The 3 types of first-party cookie we use are to:
Some of our pages display content from external providers, e.g. YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. To view this third-party content, you have to accept their specific terms and conditions. This includes their cookie policies, which we do not control. If you do not view this content, no third-party cookies are installed on your device.
We have no control over these cookies set by third parties. The providers may at any time change their terms of service, purpose, and use of cookies, etc.
Most browsers allow you to delete cookies and block them from being set. If you do so, you may need to manually adjust some preferences every time you visit a site, and some services and functionalities may not work.