European Commissioner for Internal Market
Mr. Thierry Breton
MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY,
BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL
AFFAIRS
Age verification on digital services
Dear Mr. Thierry Breton,
We welcome our common ambitions to mitigate the adverse impact of
minors accessing harmful content online. As you point out, the Digital
Service Act is already bringing some results in these endeavors. In ad-
dition, we appreciate the possibility provided by the Commission to in-
fluence the development of a voluntary standard for age verification
through a working group.
The Danish government acknowledges the efforts put into the work by
the Commission and the determination to put big tech on the agenda.
This includes the DMA and the DSA. In addition, I appreciate the con-
structive dialogue with Commissioner Reynders’ on consumer related
initiatives related to this agenda. We fully support the ongoing fitness
check of consumer legislation to make it fit for the digital world. How-
ever, there is still an urgent need to establish efficient solutions on age
verification on digital services. The pressing nature of this matter un-
derscores the necessity for swift action and collaborative efforts. There-
fore, I strongly urge the Commission to conclude its work no later than
by the end of the year.
To accelerate this process, we welcome the Commissions initiative to
set up a working group with selected digital platforms to find efficient
age verification systems. Big tech has created the problem and it should
be their responsibility to make sure that no minors can access inappro-
priate content on their platforms. Therefore, we recommend setting le-
gal requirements for the providers of harmful content to establish effi-
cient age verification mechanisms themselves.
In case the providers of harmful content is not willing to establish age
verification voluntarily, the most prudent way forward must be to initi-
ate formal proceedings. Therefore, we welcome the Commissions for-
mal proceedings to assess whether TikTok may have breached the DSA.
It is our hope that this will serve as a stepping-stone to intensify the
dialogue with the providers of harmful content and ultimately making
them take the necessary steps to establish efficient age verification.
Shielding minors from harmful content online remains of utmost im-
portance for the Danish Government. We hope that the Commission still
shares our concerns and will work to create efficient age verification
mechanisms that can quickly be put into effect at EU level.
MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY,
BUSINESS AND FINANCIAL
AFFAIRS
Slotsholmsgade 10-12
DK-1216 Copenhagen K
Denmark
Tlf.
Fax
+45 33 92 33 50
+45 33 12 37 78
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www.em.dk