According to the Youth Protection State Agreement of Minors in the Media, providers are obliged to restrict access to offers that are likely to impair the development of children and young people.
In material for children, only contents may be made available which do not have negative effects on development for children up to the rating “12 and above” , in other words are rated with “all ages” or “6 and above” (cf. Art. 5, Sect. 5 of the Youth Media Protection State Agreement). If products are not directly aimed at children and are not rated with “16 and above” or “not under 18”, they may be offered without distribution restriction. In either case some additional regulations (eg. Youth Protection representative or Youth Protection standards for advertising) can apply.
In order to comply with the legal obligations on prejudicial content “16 and above” and “not under 18” years of age, providers have the following alternative possibilities available (cf.: Art. 5 Sect. 1, 3 and 4 as well as Art. 11 Sect. 1 of the Youth Media Protection State Agreement):
- Programming the website for a recognised Youth Protection Program.
- Using scheduling
Contents “16 and above” only accessible between 22.00 and 6.00
Contents “not under 18” only accessible between 23.00 and 6.00 - Using technical distribution restriction, e.g.: using a positive rated age verification system
How the USK can support you in this process
The USK supports its members in deciding whether a restriction of distribution is necessary and reasonable. This means that the contents are first evaluated according to their relevance for the protection of minors. If harmful content is part of a provider’s offer, we help to identify the appropriate technical measures for restricting distribution in the first step and support you in implementing them in the second step.
In addition to legal and technical expertise, we offer our members guidelines and fully programmed youth protection modules for all online areas.
If you have further questions regarding USK.online membership, don’t hesitate to contact the USK.online department directly.
