Internet companies are joining forces to mount a campaign against proposed European legislation aimed at outlawing the use of cookies over the web.

The move follows a vote in the European Parliament yesterday (Tuesday) to introduce an amendment to the directive on electronic data collection and privacy that would restrict the use of cookies across Europe.

The new clause is intended to protect the personal privacy of internet users, but the loss of cookies would seriously damage the development of e-commerce.

Opposition to the move is being organised by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), which is lobbying national experts in the working group of the European Council to overturn the amendments before the second reading in Parliament.

The IAB said that cookies are legitimately used to protect users and ensure they are genuine visitors to a site. Cookies also speed up users' identification and e-commerce transactions and recognise preferences for all types of websites and search engines.

"We will now turn our attention to educating national experts of the Council working groups as to why cookies are essential," said Danny Meadows Klue, chairman of the IAB.

Nigel Hawthorn, marketing manager at Cacheflow, a provider of caching technology, agreed. "I can't believe it's going to happen but I think this will get squashed when intelligent people start talking about it," he said. "The people that put this forward are probably misguided on the usefulness of these cookies for customers and suppliers."

The IAB will now approach governments throughout Europe to press its argument against the amendment to the law. It is also seeking support from the IT industry in its bid to present a viable case against a change to the European law affecting the use of cookies.

"We will be looking for support from the industry and we would welcome anyone lobbying parliament," said an IAB spokesperson.

The amendments will now be sent to the Telecommunications Council meeting in Brussels in December where more amendments will be made.

The IAB said it is important to lobby parliament so that appropriate amendments can be made at the council meeting.