CEN-CENELEC Workshop Agreement 18016

Designing services to be safe for children is now a legal requirement across the European Union. On 14 September, the European standardisation organisation CEN-CENELEC published a key document providing practical guidance for product developers and designers to ensure they respect children’s rights while developing their digital services. This represents an important milestone towards the development of a full European standard that would ensure consistent implementation of legal requirements for age-appropriate design, including under the Digital Services Act.

The CEN-CENELEC group also reviewed and added further mechanisms to the industry standard, such as further detail on risk assessment and minimum standards for age assurance.

The adoption of the Workshop Agreement is timely as companies look to comply with the Digital Services Act (DSA), which requires online platforms ensure a high level of privacy, safety and security for children.