IE OSC Part B - Specific Obligations, Section 7
Implement robust age assurance mechanisms to prevent children from accessing content that may impair their development
Where this comes from
Provision: Part B - Specific Obligations, Section 7
Instrument: Ireland Online Safety Code
Citation: Online Safety Code (Coimisiun na Mean), Part B, Section 7 - Age Assurance Obligations, made under the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022, Section 139K(3)
Text version: Coimisiún na Meán Online Safety Code (2024), made under the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022 (irishstatutebook.ie)
Who it applies to
Child audience (designed for OR likely accessed by children) — any one of these:
- Service is specifically designed for children under 18
- Service is likely to be accessed by children under 18
Remaining applicability scope — all of these:
- Youngest user age is Under 13 or 13-15
- Service requires/offers account registration
Scope in the source's own terms
- Online service likely accessed by children
- Service available in Ireland
What engineering work it implies
- Age Gate with Self-DeclarationCovers part of it
Simple age verification using date of birth entry with validation and session storage.
Sample acceptance criteria Landfall generates for this obligation:
- Age gate appears before accessing age-restricted content/features
- DOB input uses dropdowns (not free text) to reduce typos
- System calculates age from DOB, not from user-entered age
- Age is stored and doesn't need to be re-entered on each visit
- Age verification cannot be bypassed by direct URL access
Evidence an auditor expects
- Technical controlTechnical audit
Age verification mechanism
Implementation of age verification meeting Irish regulatory requirements
- Assessment documentDocument review
Age verification impact assessment
Assessment of age verification method effectiveness and privacy impact
Questions people ask
- Does IE OSC Part B - Specific Obligations, Section 7 apply to my service?
- It applies when at least one of: Service is specifically designed for children under 18; Service is likely to be accessed by children under 18; and Youngest user age is Under 13 or 13-15; Service requires/offers account registration.
- From when does this apply?
- IE OSC Part B - Specific Obligations, Section 7 applies from 15 February 2024. Its current status is: in force.
- What evidence does an auditor expect?
- Age verification mechanism; Age verification impact assessment.
Find out whether this one lands on you
Landfall's pre-scan answers the applicability question above for your product in minutes, then turns every obligation that applies into traceable engineering tickets with a citation chain your auditors can follow.
Not legal advice. Landfall maps regulatory obligations to engineering work for planning purposes. Its verdicts are not legal advice and create no attorney-client relationship — verify with qualified counsel before relying on them.