What is changing?
The CNIL, the French data protection authority, has published a recommendation on tracking pixels in emails. In practice, it may require organisations to collect valid consent before using certain types of email tracking, especially when tracking is used to measure opens, analyse recipient behaviour, or improve campaign performance.
The recommendation was published in April 2026, with a transition period ending on 14 July 2026.
Other European data protection authorities (e.g. Italy, Germany) may also publish similar guidance. Email tracking settings should therefore be reviewed carefully, especially if your organisation is based in a concerned country or sends emails to recipients in countries where such rules or recommendations apply.
To help you manage this, Qualifio now provides a website-level setting to enable or disable email tracking for each website.
What does email tracking mean?
Email tracking refers to the mechanisms used to measure interactions with emails, such as whether an email has been sent, opened or whether tracked links have been clicked.
In Qualifio:
- Enabled: Qualifio collects tracking data related to email interactions
- Disabled: Qualifio does not collect this tracking for emails sent from campaigns on the website. You will no longer have sending, opening and click statistics for those emails
This setting does not prevent emails from being sent: the emails are still delivered to recipients, only the related statistics are no longer available.
Who is concerned by the CNIL recommendation?
You may be concerned if you send emails to recipients in France, or if your organisation is otherwise subject to the recommendation. You should also review your email tracking practices if you send emails to recipients in other countries where a data protection authority has published, or may publish, similar guidance.
Your organisation is responsible for deciding whether tracking can be enabled. Qualifio provides the technical setting but your organisation remains responsible for identifying whether it is subject to the CNIL recommendation (or similar) and for deciding the settings for each website.
If you are unsure, we recommend contacting your legal or data protection team.
What is Qualifio’s recommended approach?
Qualifio provides a website-level configuration:
- Always track: tracking remains enabled for emails sent to participants of campaigns published on that website
- Never track: tracking is disabled for those emails
If (even a small) part of your audience is in France, because Qualifio does not currently collect or manage email tracking consent, the safest configuration for any websites subject to the recommendation is Never track.
Do I need to do anything?
If all your websites are located in France, no action is required: Qualifio will enforce the Never track setting.
This does not replace your own legal assessment. The website location alone is not sufficient: a website outside France may still have participants in France. In that case you should set that website to Never track yourself. Only keep Always track where you have confirmed that tracking is allowed for the recipients concerned.
How can I disable email tracking for a website?
To disable email tracking for a website:
- Go to Publishing > Websites in Qualifio
- Edit your website
- Scroll to the email tracking setting and select Never track
- Save your changes
- Repeat the process for as many websites as needed
Once saved, tracking is disabled for future emails sent from campaigns published on the concerned website.
Does this setting works across my websites and campaigns?
This setting applies at website level: the selected option covers all emails from campaigns linked to that website. If you manage several websites, review each one individually against your own assessment.
For example:
- if a website is located in France, it will be migrated to Never track;
- if a website is not located in France but sends emails to recipients in France, you should put the setting to Never track;
- if a website targets recipients in another country where similar rules apply, you should check whether Never track is required;
- if a website is not concerned by these rules and your organisation allows tracking, you may decide to keep Always track.
Does Qualifio collect or manage email tracking consent?
Not at this stage.
The current solution allows you to enable or disable email tracking at website level. It does not collect, store, or manage email tracking consent per participant or per campaign. Because Qualifio does not currently manage email tracking consent, there is no participant-level withdrawal mechanism for that consent.
If you need to collect email tracking consent or offer a withdrawal mechanism, you should disable email tracking for the concerned website.
Can I re-enable email tracking later?
Yes. You can change the setting at any time, provided your organisation is allowed to use tracking for that website.
Re-enabling is not retroactive: it will not track emails already sent.
What if I use Actito to send emails?
It is possible to use Actito to send the exit screens emails to your customers. Contact your Account Manager to ensure you are on the latest version of the data push between the two products and they will be able to let you know how to set this up.