UK AADC Standard 11 - Parental controls
Provide age-appropriate transparency to children about parental monitoring and controls
Where this comes from
Provision: Standard 11 - Parental controls
Instrument: UK Age Appropriate Design Code
Citation: Information Commissioner's Office, Age Appropriate Design: a code of practice for online services, Standard 11
Text version: ICO Age Appropriate Design Code (statutory code under Data Protection Act 2018 s 123), issued 2 Sept 2020
Who it applies to
It applies when all of these are true:
- Service is likely to be accessed by children under 18
- Service enables direct messaging between users
…unless:
- Parental involvement is not Yes
- Parental monitoring may be limited where it would compromise the child's safety (e.g., abuse situations). (ICO AADC Guidance, Standard 11.3)
- Graduated approach: older teenagers (16-17) may have reduced parental monitoring to respect emerging autonomy. (ICO AADC Guidance, Standard 11.5)
What engineering work it implies
Sample acceptance criteria Landfall generates for this obligation:
- Parent can link their account to child's account
- Parent verification method implemented (email, payment method, or ID)
- Parent can view child's activity summary (not detailed content)
- Parent can enable/disable specific features for child
- Parent can set time limits or usage restrictions
Questions people ask
- Does UK AADC Standard 11 - Parental controls apply to my service?
- It applies when Service is likely to be accessed by children under 18; Service enables direct messaging between users. It does not apply where Parental involvement is not Yes.
- From when does this apply?
- UK AADC Standard 11 - Parental controls applies from 2 September 2021. Its current status is: in force.
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.