No. Consent is the only lawful basis that applies to the storage of information, or access to information already stored, on the device or terminal equipment of a subscriber or user.

It is important to note that consent must be obtained regardless of whether the information stored or accessed is personal data.

If, as a result of using cookies, the information you process can also be considered personal data, then you must comply with the rules of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) as well as with the ePrivacy rules. Personal data includes online identifiers or numbers, such as those that may be contained in cookies and that relate to an identified, or identifiable, natural person. If a person may be identified, or is identifiable, including by means of appending information about that person that is processed by another entity, this is sufficient to make the data you process relating to them personal data.