IAB Tech Lab & IAB Europe release Pubvendors.Json and mobile in-app specifications to support transparency & consent framework

Cristina Blanaru Business, Creativity, Digital & Media
On the heels of releasing the final technical specifications for the Transparency and Consent Framework last week to address user choice and other aspects of compliance with the notice, transparency, and choice requirements set forth in the GDPR (European General Data Protection Regulation), IAB Tech Lab and IAB Europe are introducing an additional supporting tech spec—pubvendors.json (a publisher’s list of vendors)—and the much awaited mobile in-app support for the Framework is also being released for public comment. Both tech specs build upon initial adoption of the Framework, with over 120 vendors registered on the Global Vendor List.

The pubvendors.json tech spec is intended to:

  • Provide a standard for publishers to publicly declare the vendors that they work with, and their respective data rights/configuration
  • Allow vendors to verify publishers’ GDPR settings and verify/audit Consent Management Provider (CMP) consent strings
  • Establish a standard way for publishers to white-list vendors
  • Enable publishers to limit purposes and features (consistent with the Framework) on a per-vendor basis

Mobile in-app enables app developers to access and honor the Framework’s consent and legitimate interest mechanisms as a supporting standard to assist with GDPR compliance. CMP API endpoints and app developer local storage are specified, which enables the mechanism of collecting and propagating consent, so third-party vendors can operate in respect of users’ and publishers’ choices. App developers continue to have flexibility in defining user experience for exposing purposes and controls, as per the Framework.

The feedback from publishers since we launched the public consultation on the first version of the specs for the Transparency and Consent Framework included a couple of strong messages (…)First, publishers wanted even more control with respect to data processing purposes, notably to be able to authorise different partners to leverage different purposes.  Second, they wanted more control over which legal bases their partners could adduce.  The pubvendors.json solution is a rapid response to accommodate these requirements.

Townsend Feehan,

CEO, IAB Europe

These additional tech specs are a direct reflection of our commitment to the flexibility and adaptability of the Transparency and Consent Framework, to ensure that it meets the needs of publishers and other parties in the supply chain (…) The continued dominance of apps in mobile environments made supporting tech specs on that front particularly vital, and we’re pleased that our working group moved quickly to close that gap

Dennis Buchheim,

Senior Vice President and General Manager, IAB Tech Lab

After public comment concludes on June 1, 2018, IAB Tech Lab and IAB Europe participants will evaluate and incorporate feedback received and release a final version of each of these specifications. Companies with urgent transparency goals are invited to adopt the pubvendors.json technology as a beta implementation, even before the specifications are finalized.

To review the proposed pubvendors.json technology specification and the mobile in-app specification, please visit here. Technical feedback can be sent to transparencyframework@iabtechlab.com and general feedback can be sent to feedback@advertisingconsent.eu.

The IAB Technology Laboratory (“Tech Lab”) is a non-profit research and development consortium that produces and provides standards, software, and services to drive growth of an effective and sustainable global digital media ecosystem. Comprised of digital publishers and ad technology firms, as well as marketers, agencies, and other companies with interests in the interactive marketing arena, IAB Tech Lab aims to enable brand and media growth via a transparent, safe, effective supply chain, simpler and more consistent measurement, and better advertising experiences for consumers, with a focus on mobile and “TV”/digital video channel enablement. The IAB Tech Lab portfolio includes the DigiTrust real-time standardized identity service designed to improve the digital experience for consumers, publishers, advertisers, and third-party platforms. Board members include AppNexus, ExtremeReach, Google, GroupM, Hearst Digital Media, Integral Ad Science, Index Exchange, LinkedIn, MediaMath, Microsoft, Oracle’s Moat, Pandora, PubMatic, Quantcast, Telaria, The Trade Desk, and Yahoo! Japan. Established in 2014, the IAB Tech Lab is headquartered in New York City with an office in San Francisco and representation in Seattle and London.

IAB Europe is the leading European-level industry association for the digital advertising ecosystem. Its mission is to promote the development of this innovative sector and ensure its sustainability by shaping the regulatory environment, demonstrating the value digital advertising brings to Europe’s economy, to consumers and to the market, and developing and facilitating the uptake of harmonised business practices that take account of changing user expectations and enable digital brand advertising to scale in Europe.