Understanding CNIL’s updated guidance on email open tracking | Community
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KeithGluck
Community Manager
KeithGluckCommunity Manager
Community Manager
July 8, 2026
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Understanding CNIL’s updated guidance on email open tracking

  • July 8, 2026
  • 5 replies
  • 978 views

This post is for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice and does not warrant your compliance. The Adobe Marketo Engage product capabilities described in this help article, configured and operated appropriately, support a compliant implementation. Each user is responsible for determining and complying with its obligations under applicable law.


Overview

On April 14, 2026, France’s data protection authority (CNIL) published a recommendation on the use of open tracking pixels in emails. The guidance clarifies when consent is required and highlights the importance of proper consent practices for email pixel tracking. This policy impacts any entity sending emails to subscribers based in France.


CNIL provided a three-month period from the date of the recommendation for companies to inform their email recipients of the presence of the tracking pixels, their purpose, and the recipients’ right to opt-out. During this transition period, Marketo Engage users are expected to notify their recipients about pixel tracking and provide an opt-out if necessary. CNIL is expected to begin enforcement activities after July 14, 2026.


As the CNIL and other regulators clarify guidance on tracking pixels and related issues, Adobe will continue to monitor updates and inform you of changing technical capabilities.


Marketo Engage offers controls that help you manage open tracking at the email level. Users are responsible for determining their own compliance obligations under applicable CNIL guidance and other laws. 


What is an email tracking pixel

An email tracking pixel is a small transparent image (just 1x1 pixel in size) embedded in the HTML of an email. When a recipient’s email client loads the email images, the pixel pings a server that records data such as a timestamp, device type, email client, and sometimes an IP address for approximate location. That log is tied to the recipient’s record, allowing marketers to see whether an email is opened.


Guidance on consent tracking

Detailed steps are outlined for Marketo Engage users in this help article on Experience League.


Updates and support

For the latest updates, bookmark this post. If you have any questions, please post a comment below.

      5 replies

      O
      ofallskfoos
      Level 1
      July 8, 2026

      Thank you, this was very helpful and easy to understand. I was anle to relaye it to a similar concern I have.

        A
        adesrala1
        Level 3
        July 17, 2026

        Thanks for sharing this update and the Adobe guidance.

        From a technical implementation perspective, I'm interested in understanding how other Marketo Engage customers are operationalizing this for promotional emails.

        Given that open tracking is enabled at the email asset level, what scalable approaches are organizations using to honor recipient-level consent without introducing significant operational overhead? For example, are teams maintaining separate email assets, leveraging segmentation or Smart Campaigns, or using another pattern?

        I'd be interested to hear how others have implemented this at scale.

        Found this helpful? Mark the thread as solved so other community members can quickly locate the answer.
        SanfordWhiteman
        SanfordWhiteman
        Level 10
        July 20, 2026

        We use this simple Velocity token for conditional open tracking based on a Boolean field Can Be Tracked (it’s just a newer version of code I blogged about back in 2018):

        #set( $canBeTracked = $lead.TrackingEnabled.equals("1") )
        #if( $canBeTracked )
        <img src="https://click.example.com/trk?t=1&mid=${mktmail.QpMarketoId}" )
        #end

         

        However, doing the same for click tracking is much, much more difficult. Not quite impossible but you need to drastically revamp your templates and have an expert Velocity dev.  

          A
          adesrala1
          Level 3
          July 27, 2026

          ​@SanfordWhiteman 
           

          Thanks for sharing this—it's a good approach, especially since it avoids maintaining separate email assets by making the tracking decision at the recipient level.

          In our case, though, the challenge is that our email framework is heavily customized from Knak through to Marketo, so introducing Velocity into the template structure would require broader template changes and regression testing. We're trying to understand whether others have found implementation patterns that preserve existing template architecture while still honoring recipient-level consent at scale.

          I appreciate you sharing your implementation and the insight around click tracking as well—that's helpful context.

          Found this helpful? Mark the thread as solved so other community members can quickly locate the answer.
          C_Blakeley
          C_Blakeley
          Level 2
          July 30, 2026

          The real missing capability is native person-level suppression of both open and click tracking at send time, without requiring duplicate assets, Velocity scripting, or custom link-tracking infrastructure. 

           

          CBlakeley
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