France: Implemented Bill Securing and Regulating the Digital Space including age verification requirement

On 22 July 2024, the Bill Securing and Regulating the Digital Space, including service access restrictions, comes into force. The Bill aims to transpose obligations outlined in the European Digital Service Act (DSA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA) to align national laws with these regulations. Under the Bill, service providers whose service allows access to pornographic content are obliged to implement an age verification system in accordance with the technical characteristics of the reference system. This reference system is established by the National Commission for Information Technology and Freedoms and will determine the minimum technical requirements applicable to age verification systems. The Audiovisual and Digital Communication Regulatory Authority (ARCOM) may require publishers and service providers to conduct an audit of the age verification systems they implement in order to certify the conformity of these systems with the technical requirements defined by the standard. Violations of these regulations may incur sanctions of up to 4% of global revenue, with repeated violations potentially leading to a sanction of 6% of global revenue.