At a Glance
- Understanding ACS: The Amazon Consent Signal (ACS) is a tool for signaling user consent preferences directly to Amazon Ads, essential for compliance in the EU/EEA and UK.
- How It Works: ACS transmits two key signals, amzn_user_data and amzn_ad_storage, to inform Amazon Ads if data processing and cookie usage are granted or denied.
- Implementation Requirements: Businesses using ACS must maintain transparent privacy policies, collect valid opt-in consent, and securely manage user preferences to align with Amazon’s data policies.
- Strategic Benefits: By signaling consent, companies can maintain access to critical advertising functions like conversion tracking and remarketing, helping ensure that data usage respects user choices.
- Usercentrics Integration: Usercentrics CMP allows for quick activation of ACS via the Admin Interface, supporting both manual setup and automated options for simplified compliance.
- Scope and Usage: ACS is specifically designed for advertisers not currently utilizing the IAB’s Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF) v2.3, providing a dedicated alternative for consent signaling.
Customers that use Amazon advertising services, and thus collect and transmit personal data in the EU and UK, are required to collect consent preferences from users. They must also use a consent framework to signal consent information to Amazon Ads.
The IAB’s Transparency & Consent Framework (TCF) v2.3 has been one framework option to signal such consent, and now there is also the Amazon Consent Signal (ACS). The ACS enables advertisers and other third parties to communicate collected consent information to Amazon Ads with greater precision, supporting data privacy compliance.
We look at what ACS does, how it benefits Amazon Ads customers, how it differs from other consent signals, and what businesses need to know.
What is the Amazon Consent Signal?
In the EU/EEA, and UK, companies must obtain valid consent from users to collect and use their personal data for advertising purposes, e.g. personalization.
Those consent choices are typically collected by a consent management platform (CMP) like Usercentrics CMP. Then, that collected information has to be signalled to relevant advertising platforms, like Amazon Ads, so that advertising functions are controlled by what users have agreed to.
ACS was developed by Amazon for use by advertisers and other third-party entities. It’s designed to be an easy-to-use format for companies to share users’ consent choices when using Amazon Ads. It’s a similar tool to Microsoft UET Consent Mode and Google Consent Mode v2, which were also developed to enable privacy-compliant advertising operations on their platforms in the EU and UK.
How does the Amazon Consent Signal work?
ACS uses two different signals to share consent information with Amazon Ads. Depending on the values obtained, Amazon Ads functions are controlled to collect only consented data, enable certain ad functions, and allow use of cookies and other trackers.
- amzn_user_data: Indicates whether the user has consented to Amazon processing personal data (e.g. an advertising identifier) for advertising purposes.Acceptable values are “GRANTED” or “DENIED”.
- amzn_ad_storage: Indicates whether the user has given Amazon consent to read or write advertising cookies or similar technologies from the user’s device.
Acceptable values are “GRANTED” or “DENIED”.
What are businesses required to do to use ACS?
Amazon has a number of requirements for companies (advertisers or third parties) that collect personal data for use in advertising with Amazon Ads:
- Publish a clear privacy policy that meets legal requirements for relevant regulations
- Collect valid opt-in consent for data processing and cookie/tracker use
- Enable users to withdraw consent easily at any time
- Maintain secure records of consent and opt-out choices, and provide access to Amazon on request
- Do not pass to Amazon any personally identifiable information, including sensitive personal information
- Do not pass to Amazon data from children under 13 years of age, or from sites directed at children
- Comply with Amazon Ads pixel requirements if using tags or pixels
- If any violations occur regarding data collection or processing, immediately stop the operations and notify Amazon in writing
- Require third parties like vendors to comply with these requirements contractually if they collect and/or process personal data
Important Milestones and Deadlines
Amazon is enforcing consent requirements in two phases. Since February 7, 2025, all advertisers transmitting personal data from UK or EEA visitors have been required to include a verified consent signal — either ACS or an IAB TCF string — with that data.
A second enforcement deadline of June 30, 2026 extends these requirements to the Amazon Ad Tag, Conversions API, and Events API. Advertisers who have not implemented a valid consent signal for these tools risk having data rejected by Amazon, with direct impact on targeting, retargeting, and conversion attribution.
Why businesses need Amazon Consent Signal
Through straightforward signals, with ACS advertisers can effectively communicate user consent preferences for data processing.
This is necessary to maintain access to ad platforms and other marketing functions in the EU and UK due to regulatory requirements like those from the GDPR and UK GDPR.
Amazon is also enforcing consent requirements at the platform level. From June 30, 2026, consent signals are mandatory for the Amazon Ad Tag, Conversions API, and Events API. Data transmitted without a valid signal will be rejected, directly affecting audience building, conversion measurement, and retargeting, regardless of regulatory exposure.
Companies are required to obtain valid and informed consent from users to process their personal data for functions like personalized advertising, and tools like Usercentrics CMP and ACS enable them to obtain, store, and signal this information.
As a result, companies maintain access to advertising platforms and functions like tracking conversions, building remarketing audiences, and making better data-backed decisions to improve advertising performance. However, this data is not accessible without valid consent.
Using ACS helps companies to meet legal requirements and users’ increasing privacy expectations.
Usercentrics CMP and Amazon Consent Signal
Enabling ACS via Usercentrics CMP requires only a quick setup to transmit consent signals to Amazon Ads. However, ACS should only be used by businesses that do not use the TCF framework.
Enable Amazon Consent Signal in the Admin Interface
If you’re an existing Usercentrics customer, make sure the Amazon Consent Signal option is toggled ON in the Admin Interface settings if you are not using the TCF.
New Customers Need to Activate
New customers need to turn the Amazon Consent Signal feature on in their configuration from the Admin Interface.
Support for Custom Data Processing Services
If you’re using custom Data Processing Services (DPS), use the Usercentrics CMP events to pass consent information to Amazon through their Consent Signal API.
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