have EU based users (i.e any website running cookies that isn’t actively blocking EU based users);

An entity not established in the EU offers goods or services (even if the offer is for free) to people in the EU. The entity can be government agencies, private/public companies, individuals and non-profits;

Determining your law of reference Generally, the laws of a particular region apply if: You base your operations there; or You use processing services or servers based in the region; or Your service targets users from that region This effectively means that regional regulations may apply to you and/or your business whether you’re located in the region or not. For that reason, it’s always advisable that you approach your data processing activities with the strictest applicable regulations in mind.

This scope effectively covers almost all companies and, therefore, means that the GDPR can apply to you whether your organization is based in the EU or not. As a matter of fact, this PwC survey showed that the GDPR is a top data protection priority for up to 92 percent of U.S. companies surveyed.