This whole EU thing...
Until today I had no problem throwing Google Analytics on a site, same with Facebook for a share button (not sure if this uses a cookie).
Recently when I figured out how to use cookies and now use it for tracking/faster lookup for site usage... I came across the thing of "asking for permission to use cookies" ahh... this is like the noscript/accessibility/modifying social media buttons thing...
Is this something to be concerned about? For me it's not a credentials thing, though it is an identifying thing, just for easier database lookup to update the user's interaction with a site ie. pages visited, scrolls, stuff clicked on... for data driven dev.
I do intend to put the question but it seems like an annoying thing for them to deal with. When I see it I'm like "Ahh..." and don't click them myself. But I've seen very few sites ask.
Edit: I think the most useful thing I've found for cookies is the persistence for example using guides to use your website to help people get used to how it works. Then they only see it once until the cookie expires.
I realize that's probably the definition/reason for cookies is persistence.
First party session cookies (e.g. login cookies) and several other reasonable uses are exempt.
The law is most strongly targeted at google analytics / facebook / omniture / etc cookies, which are third-party tracking cookies that follow the user around the Internet.
In your case, if you are setting a first-party non-persistent cookie which does not "identify" the user (except to determine usage patterns on the site) then it would be pretty reasonable to consider it exempt from notification.
However, you should throw up a cookie warning if you are setting a persistent cookie or using third-party tracking scripts (which will go ahead and use third-party tracking cookies).