RTM v Bonne Terre: Court of Appeal redraws the line on consent

The Court of Appeal has ruled that consent under the UK GDPR and PECR is objective. A data subject's hidden vulnerabilities are not, in themselves, decisive, and even a controller's constructive knowledge of those vulnerabilities is not a stand-alone qualifier.

In this episode, Robert Bateman breaks down the judgment in RTM v Bonne Terre [2026] EWCA Civ 488, handed down on 21 April 2026.

In this episode:

• The background to RTM's claim against Sky Betting and Gaming
• Mrs Justice Collins Rice's three-strand test in the High Court, and why it was a problem that neither party had argued for it
• The Court of Appeal's reasoning on why consent is objective
• The fallback argument from the operator and the ICO, and why it failed
• Findings on cookies, profiling and what was actually used for direct marketing
• Three takeaways for data protection professionals

Cited:

• RTM v Bonne Terre [2026] EWCA Civ 488
• Article 4(11) UK GDPR
• Planet 49 (Case C-673/17)
• Orange Romania (Case C-61/19)
• Meta Platforms (Case C-252/21)
• Cooper v National Crime Agency [2019] EWCA Civ 16
• Leave.EU v Information Commissioner [2021] UKUT 26 (AAC)

Get in touch with Privacy Partnership for support with UK GDPR, PECR, and AI Act compliance.