Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 7 March 2024.#IAB Europe v Gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit.#Request for a preliminary ruling from the Hof van beroep te Brussel.#Reference for a preliminary ruling – Protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data – Regulation (EU) 2016/679 – Standard-setting sectoral organisation proposing to its members rules on the processing of users’ consent – Article 4(1) – Concept of ‘personal data’ – String of letters and characters capturing, in a structured and machine-readable manner, the preferences of an internet user relating to the consent of that user to the processing of his or her personal data – Article 4(7) – Concept of ‘controller’ – Article 26(1) – Concept of ‘joint controllers’ – Organisation which does not itself have access to the personal data processed by its members – Responsibility of the organisation extending to the subsequent processing of data carried out by third parties.#Case C-604/22.