The protection of minors always reflects the norms and values of society as a whole. The principles and guiding criteria are therefore decided by an advisory board composed of various representatives from society, politics and business.
The USK is advised by an Advisory Council. This committee determines the USK principles and the guiding criteria and appoints the persons who play a decisive role in determining the age classifications. Among these are for example the game testers, who play through the games and pretent them to the classification comittes consisting of youth protection experts, who then recommend an age rating to the Permanent Representatives.
The Advisory Council also appoints the chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of the appelation Committees, which include representatives of churches and religious communities, media education, the Federal Ministry for Youth, the Länder Youth Ministries, the Federal Review Board for Media Harmful to Young Persons (BPjM), youth organisations and the computer games industry, as well as representatives* of the USK members and experts on youth protection.