French Regulator Publishes Technical Reference Guide for Age Verification

PARIS — France’s Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication (ARCOM) has published its technical reference guide for applying age verification requirements to adult websites.

The “Technical Reference on Age Verification for the Protection of Minors from Online Pornography” requirements were adopted under a mandate by the Law Aiming to Secure and Regulate the Digital Space (SREN), which was passed last year and took effect in May.

“In order to better protect young Internet users and strengthen the existing system, the law of May 21, 2024 (known as ‘SREN’) gave ARCOM powers to sanction and administratively block pornographic sites that do not comply with their criminal obligation to prevent minors from accessing their content,” the agency said in a press release. “The legislator also asked ARCOM to adopt a benchmark that determines the minimum technical requirements applicable to age verification systems set up to access services broadcasting pornographic content.”

The document lays out a framework for implementing age verification, with sections on determining the reliability of age verification systems, privacy protection, and a process for auditing and evaluating age verification systems.

It also specifies temporary measures that adult websites can implement during a transitional period.

“ARCOM invites pornographic sites to implement the most protective solutions without delay,” the regulator continued in the release. “However, during a transitional period of three months, intended to allow them to identify and implement an age verification solution that meets all of these requirements, services will be able to implement solutions using bank cards, in order to protect the youngest users without delay.”

As XBIZ reported when SREN was passed, the French government previously targeted the five most popular adult sites in the country — Pornhub, Tukif, xHamster, XVideos and Xnxx. In April of last year, those sites presented objections to the age verification provisions of the law. The tribunal that heard the objections delayed its opinion repeatedly, until the passing of the law made them moot.

In July of last year, French Senator Laurence Rossignol stated that the purpose of the new law and its age verification requirements was specifically to “complicate the life of publishers of porn sites.”

“That is the goal,” Rossignol said.