Performance marketing company Rakuten Marketing has unveiled a new consent management platform (CMP) for retailers, advertisers and publishers.

Compliant with the IAB Europe/Tech Lab Transparency and Consent Framework and developed to-date within a DigiTrust (now IAB Tech Lab) working group, the CMP is a proactive measure to help retailers, advertisers and publishers gain consent under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that came into effect on 25 May.

Under the GDPR, the ‘consent’ model is one of six legal bases for collecting and processing personal consumer data lawfully. For consent to be valid, it must be freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous, and given with a clear affirmative action.

The primary goal for Rakuten Marketing with the launch of this CMP is to provide retailers, advertisers and publishers with a trustworthy and reliable solution that creates a standard for all language used to secure consumer ‘consent’ for use of their personal data on a global level.

Rakuten Marketing also launched the CMP to advocate broad adoption and use of a single source that promotes the ‘consent’ model, which increases transparency and ensures consumers understand what personal information is collected and how it is used in the context of online ads and marketing campaigns.

Rakuten Marketing co-developed the open-source CMP as a founding contributor to the Digitrust (now IAB Tech Lab) CMP Development Working Group. The working group is comprised of IAB Tech Lab members who, like Rakuten Marketing, are committed to open-source software development plus IAB Tech Lab identity and privacy standards.

The CMP is directly coupled by design to the DigiTrust neutral ID and namespace, and may only be distributed by contributing members of the CMP Development Working Group.

The end result is a flexible platform that ensures retailers, advertisers and publishers collect valid consumer consent, and persistently honour consumer preferences.

The messaging in the tool has been tested and received the highest consent adoption over other tested messaging, and will be instrumental in helping advertisers, retailers and publishers successfully navigate GDPR mandates. The messaging should be customised to fit a particular advertiser’s or publisher’s business.

Rakuten Marketing’s chief technology officer, Neal Richter, said: “We’re excited to bring this new CMP to the market, which directly supports the consent model within GDPR.

“We firmly believe the consent legal basis gives consumers the greatest control over their personal marketing experiences, and will help brands build and grow truly positive and trusted consumer relationships that support bottom-line growth.”

The CMP is a free, open-sourced platform that integrates into existing marketing and IT technologies. It’s compliant with the consent string specification recently released by IAB Europe and Tech Lab to standardise consent signals from users and other parties.