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Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom
Key definition
consent definition

What does consent mean? In legal practice, consent describes a person’s free, informed and voluntary agreement to a proposed act or data use. For data protection, consent is defined in legislation: under the UK GDPR and, in Ireland, the EU GDPR, it is a freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the data subject’s wishes, signified by a statement or clear affirmative action, agreeing to the processing of personal data. It cannot be inferred from silence, pre‑ticked boxes or inactivity; must be granular and documented; may need to be explicit for special-category data; and can be withdrawn at any time,...

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UK GDPR consent: ICO expectations and practical guidance on obtaining, evidencing and managing consent (including explicit consent) for personal and special category data

Practice notes
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This Practice Note is aimed at private-sector commercial organisations in the UK. It explains the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) expectations for securing, recording and managing consent to process personal data, and mirrors UK General data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) requirements concerning consent...

What is consent?

Consent is a freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous sign of the data subject’s wishes whereby they, by a statement or a clear positive action, confirm agreement to the processing of personal data. Accordingly, consent must be:

  • freely given
  • specific
  • informed
  • unambiguous

There are two levels of consent based on the type of data processed:

  • standard consent, required when relying on consent to process non-sensitive personal data
  • explicit consent, required when relying on consent to process special category (sensitive) personal data—there is no definition of explicit consent but see Practice Note: How to identify and manage special category personal data—Explicit consent

For further guidance on the elements of consent and how the definition operates in practice, see Practice Note: Processing personal data—standard of consent.

Tips for getting consent

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Web page updated on 22/05/2026

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