UK OSA Section 12(6)-(8), Ofcom Guidance on Age Assurance
Use highly effective age assurance technology to determine whether users are children, considering proportionality and Ofcom guidance
Where this comes from
Provision: Section 12(6)-(8), Ofcom Guidance on Age Assurance
Instrument: UK Online Safety Act 2023
Citation: Online Safety Act 2023, c. 50, Sections 12(6)-(8), 37; Ofcom Statement on Age Assurance (December 2024); ISO/IEC 27566:2025 Age Assurance Framework
Text version: Online Safety Act 2023 c. 50, as enacted (legislation.gov.uk)
Who it applies to
It applies when all of these are true:
- Service is likely to be accessed by children under 18
- Service requires/offers account registration
- Youngest user age is Under 13, 13-15 or 16-17
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.
- Parental Consent and ControlsCovers it fully
Implement verifiable parental consent for users under threshold age with ongoing parental controls.
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
Questions people ask
- Does UK OSA Section 12(6)-(8), Ofcom Guidance on Age Assurance apply to my service?
- It applies when Service is likely to be accessed by children under 18; Service requires/offers account registration; Youngest user age is Under 13, 13-15 or 16-17.
- From when does this apply?
- UK OSA Section 12(6)-(8), Ofcom Guidance on Age Assurance applies from 16 December 2024. Its current status is: in force.
- What engineering work does this imply?
- Typically: Age Gate with Self-Declaration, Parental Consent and Controls.
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.