2019/0317/UK
EC/EFTA
GB Royaume-Uni
  • SERV60 - Services liés à Internet
2019-10-02
2019-07-03

Persons making pornographic material available on the internet on a commercial basis to persons

in the UK.

Internet service providers (defined in Section 30[1] as meaning a provider of an internet access

service within the meaning given in Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2015/2120).

The UK believes the measures provided for are consistent with Audiovisual Media Services

Directive (2010/13/EU) and E-Commerce Directive (2000/31/EC).

British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) Guidance on Age Verification Arrangements

We have previously notified (Notification Ref 2016/640/UK) Part 3 of the Digital Economy Act 2017 (DEA 2017). Under section 25 (1)(a) of the DEA 2017, the Age Verification Regulator who has been subsequently designated, must publish and revise from time to time "guidance about the types of arrangements for making pornographic material available that the regulator will treat as complying with section 14(1)" of the DEA 2017. Section 14(1) prohibits persons from making pornographic material available on the internet in the United Kingdom on a commercial basis, other than in a way that secures that the material is not normally accessible to under 18s.

The Regulator is the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and they have produced guidance

in accordance with section 25(1)(a) of the DEA 2017; BBFC Guidance on Age Verification

Arrangements.

We consider Chapter 3, paragraphs 5-6 to be notifiable under the Technical Regulations Directive.

Paragraph 5 contains the criteria against which the BBFC will assess whether an age verification

arrangement meets section 14(1) DEA 2017 requirement. Paragraph 6 sets out features which the BBFC will not, in isolation, find an age verification arrangement to be compliant with section 14(1) DEA 2017.