Implementing the IAB Transparency and Consent Framework v2.2 for programmatic advertising consent management. Covers CMP registration, Global Vendor List integration, TC String encoding, publisher restrictions, and compliance validation.
Implementing the IAB Transparency and Consent Framework v2.2 for programmatic advertising consent management. Covers CMP registration, Global Vendor List integration, TC String encoding, publisher restrictions, and compliance validation.
The IAB Europe Transparency and Consent Framework (TCF) v2.2, released in May 2023 as an update to v2.0, provides a standardized mechanism for collecting, encoding, and distributing user consent signals across the programmatic advertising supply chain. Publishers, advertisers, and ad technology vendors use TCF to communicate consent status through the TC String — a compact, base64url-encoded data structure. TCF v2.2 introduced key changes including the removal of legitimate interest as a legal basis for cross-device targeting (Purpose 2 in part) and restrictions on certain vendor practices.
TCF v2.2 Architecture
Core Components
Consent Management Platform (CMP): The user-facing interface that collects consent. Must be registered with IAB Europe and assigned a CMP ID.
Global Vendor List (GVL): A centralized registry of ad technology vendors, maintained by IAB Europe, listing each vendor's declared purposes and legal bases.
TC String: The encoded consent signal transmitted through the ad supply chain.
CMP API (__tcfapi): A JavaScript API that vendors call to read the current consent state.
Implementation for Pinnacle E-Commerce Ltd
Step 1: CMP Registration
Register Pinnacle E-Commerce Ltd's CMP with IAB Europe:
Registration Field
Value
CMP Name
Pinnacle Consent Manager
Publisher
Pinnacle E-Commerce Ltd
CMP ID
Assigned by IAB Europe upon registration (e.g., 432)
Implement the __tcfapi stub before the full CMP loads
Step 2: Global Vendor List Integration
The GVL is published at https://vendor-list.consensu.org/v3/vendor-list.json and contains:
{"gvlSpecificationVersion":3,"vendorListVersion":287,"tcfPolicyVersion":4,"lastUpdated":"2026-03-01T12:00:00Z","purposes":{"1":{"id":1,"name":"Store and/or access information on a device","description":"Cookies, device or similar online identifiers...","illustrations":["..."]}},"vendors":{"755":{"id":755,"name":"Google Advertising Products","purposes":[1,3,4],"legIntPurposes":[2,7,9,10],"flexiblePurposes":[2,7,9,10],"specialPurposes":[1,2],"features":[1,2],"specialFeatures":[],"policyUrl":"https://policies.google.com/privacy","cookieMaxAgeSeconds":63072000,"usesCookies":true,"usesNonCookieAccess":true}}}
GVL Management for Pinnacle E-Commerce Ltd:
Cache the GVL locally with a maximum staleness of 24 hours
Display only vendors that Pinnacle E-Commerce Ltd actually uses (vendor subset)
Show vendor count in the consent banner: "We work with 47 advertising partners"
Provide a searchable vendor list in the detailed consent layer
Pinnacle E-Commerce Ltd Vendor Subset:
Vendor ID
Vendor Name
Purposes
Legal Basis
755
Google Advertising Products
1, 3, 4
Consent
91
Criteo SA
1, 2, 3, 4, 7
Consent
42
Taboola Inc.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7
Consent
69
OpenX Technologies
1, 2, 3, 4, 7
Consent
253
Meta Platforms, Inc.
1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 10
Consent
Step 3: TCF v2.2 Purposes
The 11 TCF purposes and their mapping for Pinnacle E-Commerce Ltd:
TCF Purpose
Name
Legal Basis at Pinnacle
1
Store and/or access information on a device
Consent only
2
Select basic ads
Consent only
3
Create profiles for personalised advertising
Consent only
4
Use profiles to select personalised ads
Consent only
5
Create profiles to personalise content
Consent only
6
Use profiles to select personalised content
Consent only
7
Measure ad performance
Consent only
8
Measure content performance
Consent only
9
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources
Consent only
10
Develop and improve services
Consent only
11
Use limited data to select content
Consent only
Special Purposes (always allowed, no consent required):
SP1: Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors
SP2: Deliver and present advertising and content
Features (declared, not consented to individually):
F1: Match and combine data from other data sources
F2: Link different devices
F3: Receive and use automatically-sent device characteristics for identification
Special Features (require explicit consent):
SF1: Use precise geolocation data
SF2: Actively scan device characteristics for identification
Step 4: TC String Structure
The TC String is a base64url-encoded binary string containing:
Core String Segments:
Field
Bits
Description
Version
6
TCF version (value: 2)
Created
36
Deciseconds since 01/01/2020 00:00:00 UTC
LastUpdated
36
Deciseconds since 01/01/2020 00:00:00 UTC
CmpId
12
CMP ID (Pinnacle: 432)
CmpVersion
12
CMP version number
ConsentScreen
6
Screen number in CMP where consent was given
ConsentLanguage
12
ISO 639-1 language code
VendorListVersion
12
GVL version used
TcfPolicyVersion
6
TCF Policy version (value: 4)
IsServiceSpecific
1
1 = publisher-specific TC String
UseNonStandardStacks
1
Whether non-IAB standard stacks are used
PurposeConsents
24
Bitfield for purpose consent (purposes 1-24)
PurposeLegitimateInterests
24
Bitfield for purpose LI
PurposeOneTreatment
1
0 = purpose 1 was disclosed; 1 = not
PublisherCC
12
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 publisher country code
Vendor Consent Section:
Variable-length encoding of per-vendor consent using either a bitfield or range encoding, depending on which is more compact.
Publisher Restrictions Section:
Overrides vendor-declared legal bases at the publisher level.
Step 5: Publisher Restrictions
Pinnacle E-Commerce Ltd applies publisher restrictions to enforce consent-only for all purposes: