On April 26, 2024, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published its Q1 2024 update report on the implementation of Google LLC's commitment to addressing competition concerns resulting from Google's proposals to remove third-party cookies and other functionalities from its Chrome browser and replace them with a Privacy Sandbox setting.

In the report, the CMA outlined the progress made from January 1, 2024 to March 31, 2024, affirming that Google has met its commitments during this period. Despite compliance, the CMA highlighted the need for further developments to address competition concerns before the planned deprecation of third-party cookies. Due to the complexity of the issues and the testing results, the CMA explained that a decision had been made to postpone the cookie deprecation to early 2025, subject to the resolution of outstanding concerns.

Over the next quarter, the CMA highlighted that it would collaborate with Google to address identified issues ahead of the 'standstill period' which requires Google to notify the CMA at least 60 days before the removal of third-party cookies. The CMA noted that it plans to release its next update report, along with Google's progress report, in July 2024.

Finally, the CMA stated that it is calling for industry participants involved in testing the Privacy Sandbox tools to submit their results by the end of June 2024.

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You can read the press release here and the report here.