Cookie Policy

Here’s the current legal picture for German websites (based on § 25 TDDDG — formerly TTDSG — together with the GDPR):

When you don’t need a cookie banner You can skip the consent banner only for cookies/technologies that are technically strictly necessary to provide the service the visitor explicitly asked for, or that solely transmit a message over a network. Typical examples (IHK Köln, IHK Regensburg):

• Shopping-cart cookies
• Login/session cookies
• Load-balancing cookies
• Security/CSRF-protection cookies
• Language-preference cookies

For these you don’t need a consent banner at all — a simple mention in your privacy policy (Datenschutzerklärung) is enough. Everything else — analytics, marketing, tracking, ad cookies, personalization — needs prior, active opt-in consent.

Google Services Are Not Exempt

This is the important correction: being “a Google product” gives you no exemption. If anything,
German courts and data protection authorities have been especially strict about Google tools,
because they set cookies and/or transmit personal data (like your visitors’ IP addresses) to Google servers:

• Google Analytics — consent required, no exception, according to German data protection authorities and legal commentary (datenschutz.rlp.de, e-recht24.de).
• Google Fonts loaded dynamically from Google’s servers (fonts.googleapis.com) — also requires consent, because it transmits the visitor’s IP address to Google without appropriate safeguards; several German courts have ruled on this. The workaround many sites use is to self-host the font files instead, which removes the need for consent for that specific element.
• Google Maps embeds, YouTube embeds, AdSense/ad tech — same logic, consent required. What you may have heard about is Google Consent Mode — that’s a technical signal that tells Google’s own tags whether a visitor has consented or not. It doesn’t replace or exempt you from having a valid cookie banner; it only works properly if you already have one collecting real consent. 

Bottom line for your WiseForce site
If you use Google Analytics, embedded Google Fonts (via Google’s servers), Google Maps, or any marketing/ad pixels, you need a proper opt-in cookie consent banner in German that:

• Blocks those scripts until the visitor actively clicks “accept” (no pre-ticked boxes)
• Offers an equally easy “reject” option
• Lets visitors withdraw consent later

Only truly technical/functional cookies (login, cart, security, language) can run without a banner.

One thing worth knowing.