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# Rakuten Advertising Integration Guide

As a **Shopify Plus Partner**, Pandectes provides a seamless way to integrate with **Rakuten Advertising**. This integration ensures that your affiliate marketing efforts remain fully compliant with GDPR and other global privacy regulations by synchronizing user consent with Rakuten’s tracking parameters.

## What is the Rakuten Integration?
Rakuten Advertising requires specific signals to determine whether a user has consented to tracking. When this integration is enabled, Pandectes automatically manages two critical Rakuten consent variables:

* **`__rmcp2`**: This variable communicates the general consent status for Rakuten's tracking services.
* **`__rmuspc`**: This variable is specifically used to handle US Privacy compliance (relevant for CCPA/CPRA), ensuring that "Do Not Sell or Share" preferences are respected.

### How it Works
The integration maps your store’s consent categories to Rakuten’s requirements.
1. **Marketing Consent:** When a visitor accepts the **Marketing** category in your Pandectes banner, the integration triggers the "Granted" signal to Rakuten.
2. **Variable Synchronization:** Pandectes updates the `__rmcp2` and `__rmuspc` variables in real-time based on the user's interaction with the banner.
3. **Compliance by Default:** If a user rejects cookies or has not yet made a choice, the integration ensures that tracking remains restricted, protecting you from non-compliance.

### How to Enable Rakuten Integration
Setting up the integration is simple and requires no coding.

##### 1. Enable the Integration
* Open the **Pandectes GDPR Compliance** app in your Shopify admin.
* Navigate to **Integrations**.
* Find **Rakuten Advertising** and toggle the switch to **Enabled**.

##### 2. Configure the Variables
Once enabled, you will see checkboxes for the Rakuten variables. Select the ones applicable to your store's requirements:
* **Check `__rmcp2`** if you are targeting users in the EU/UK or require general consent signaling.
* **Check `__rmuspc`** if you have customers in the United States and need to comply with CCPA/CPRA.
* Click **Save** at the top of the page.

### Why this is Important
For high-growth brands affiliate marketing is a key revenue driver. However, failing to pass consent signals can lead to:
* **Data loss:** Conversions may not be attributed if the consent signal is missing.
* **Legal risk:** Tracking users without explicit consent (especially in the EEA/UK) can result in heavy fines.
* **Network Suspension:** Large ad networks like Rakuten increasingly require CMP integration to maintain account standing.

### Troubleshooting & Verification
To verify that the integration is working:
1. Visit your store in an **Incognito/Private** browser window.
2. Open the **Developer Tools** (Right-click > Inspect > Application tab > Cookies).
3. Before accepting the banner, check that the Rakuten variables are either absent or set to a "Denied" state.
4. Accept **Marketing** cookies and verify that `__rmcp2` updates to reflect the granted consent.