The European Commission has published an update to their approach to making the internet a safer place for children across Europe, the Better Internet For Kids+ (BIK+) Strategy.

We were delighted to see a commitment to build on the work of euCONSENT funded project to create interoperability for age checks and parental consent processes across Europe:

Building on ongoing work [euCONSENT is a EU funded pilot project aiming to design and test an interoperable solution for age verification and parental consent]  and taking account of the new DSA [Digital Services Act] rules for online platforms, the Commission will support methods to prove age in a privacy-preserving and secure manner, to be recognised EU-wide. The Commission will work with Member States [primarily through the safer internet for children expert group] (who in line with national legislation can choose to issue electronic IDs to the under-18s under the recent proposal on a European Digital Identity), relevant stakeholders and European standardisation organisations to strengthen effective age verification methods, as a priority. This work will encourage market solutions through a robust framework of certification and interoperability.