Public consultation on the draft guidelines determining the minimum technical requirements applicable to age verification schemes implemented for access to online pornographic content

Since March¹, 1994, under the provisions of article 227-24 of the French penal code, introduced by law^no. 92-684 of July 22, 1992, it has been forbidden to expose persons under 18 to pornographic content.

Article 23 of law^no. 2020-936 of July 30, 2020, aimed at protecting victims of domestic violence, gave the French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication (Arcom) the prerogative to issue a formal notice to a public communication service not abiding by this criminal obligation, and to submit a case before the court for blocking the site if it fails to comply. Over the past three years, Arcom has made every effort to exercise these new powers. It has served formal notice on thirteen sites and referred the situation of five of them to the courts.

The draft legislation aimed at securing and regulating the digital space (PJL SREN) makes provision for Arcom to have the power to administratively block online public communication services with editorial responsibility and video-sharing platform services showing pornographic content (hereinafter referred to as "targeted services showing pornographic content") which remain accessible to persons under 18 after having been served with formal notice to comply with article 227-24 of the French penal code. This power, exercised within the framework of a special procedure placed under the control of the administrative judge, would complement the powers otherwise granted to the judicial judge in this area.

The draft legislation also makes provision for Arcom to adopt a reference framework, after consultation with the French national data protection agency (CNIL), to determine the minimum technical requirements applicable to age verification schemes set up for access to targeted services that show pornographic content and enable pornographic content to be diffused.

As it stands at the time of this consultation, the draft legislation also makes provision for the service to be put on formal notice by Arcom in the event of non-compliance with the standards finally adopted once the law has been promulgated, and to be subject to financial penalties in the event of non-compliance.

The purpose of this consultation is to gather comments from stakeholders on a draft reference framework drawn up in anticipation of the adoption of the draft legislation. It is aimed in particular at services making pornographic content available to the public and companies operating in the age verification sector, but also, more generally, at all players interested in the protection of youngsters (associations, the public, etc.). Respondents are invited to comment on this document as a whole, and in particular on the sections presented below in square brackets.

Contributions must reach Arcom electronically by May 13, 2024 at the latest.