IAB Privacy Lab will support national interactive advertising bureaux (IABs) in developing privacy, data protection, legal compliance and self-regulation standards within their domestic markets.

National IABs will be helped by IAB Privacy Lab to identify consumer rights and company obligations in their regions, and incorporate these into local level standards and technology frameworks, as well as offering support and guidance.

IAB Tech Lab recently worked on a transparency and consent framework (TCF) for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and Privacy Lab will use the TCF for regions where privacy laws are similar to GDPR.

IAB Privacy Lab is also working with the US IAB for jurisdictions that differ to GDPR, and a TCF pilot is underway in Canada.

Townsend Feehan, chief executive of IAB Europe, said: “IAB Privacy Lab is aimed at empowering local IABs and enabling us as a global network to take a leadership role on what is probably the industry’s most striking vulnerability at the moment, but also an enormous opportunity.

“We want it to be a smart, low-cost way of achieving efficiencies for our shared corporate members while respecting local differences and ensuring local IABs are at the heart of an important global conversation.”

Dennis Buchheim, president of IAB Tech Lab, said: “The new IAB Privacy Lab will draw on the respective strengths of Tech Lab and IAB Europe, with Tech Lab leveraging its broad industry network of product leaders and engineers and its track record in creating global technical standards for digital advertising, and IAB Europe contributing its deep expertise in privacy policy and legal compliance.

“It’s a natural evolution of the work already being done, and we are excited to raise global standards in privacy with national IABs.”