Section 4 - User Control and Consent

User control and consent

   6. The user must give their consent prior to allowing an application to locate them, which must be indicated from the device being located. Consent should not be required to update the location information during the user’s continued use of the application (although users should be given a means to suspend updates if they want to). For example, if a user starts a personal navigation application, they should be asked to consent to be located upon starting the application, but not as the application updates their location throughout a journey.

   7. The user must give their active consent to any new or additional purposes for using their location information. For example, if after installing and running a navigation application, the application later seeks to allow use of a user’s location information to display location-aware advertising and this was not clearly described to the user when they first installed the application, the user must provide a separate and active consent to this.

   8. The user may also be given a choice to allow the application to locate them without prompting them for consent on each subsequent use of the application. For example, after consenting to allow the application to locate them on the first such occasion, a user may allow the application to locate them on future uses without asking. This only applies, provided that:
         a. There are no material changes or upgrades to the application, such as new features or functionality that use location. If there are any such changes or upgrades, these changes must be clearly explained and the user must be prompted to give their active consent prior to allowing the continuing use of their location information; and
         b. If the user does not allow the application to locate her/him without prompting for consent on each occasion the application is used, then the application must prompt the user for consent prior to allowing the application to locate them.

   9. Applications must offer the user the ability to manage consent easily and intuitively from the device being located, so the user can switch their permissions on and off as they choose within easily accessible privacy settings. This must provide the user with a simple ‘location off’ feature, which overrides all other location settings in the application.

  10. The application must respect the status of these permissions at all times and have immediate effect (subject to connectivity or purely technical constraints).

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