United Kingdom: Office of Communications opened consultation on updated draft guidance on highly effective age assurance for Part 3 Services

On 30 June 2025, the Office of Communications (Ofcom) initiated a consultation on draft guidance on highly effective age assurance for Part 3 Services until 20 October 2025. This guidance is designed to assist providers of regulated user-to-user and search services in implementing highly effective age assurance measures in accordance with the Online Safety Act 2023. The guidance outlines the criteria for ensuring that age assurance processes are technically accurate, robust, reliable, and fair. It also addresses the importance of privacy and data protection, providing detailed information on how service providers can comply with the UK's data protection regime. The consultation aims to gather feedback on the proposed measures, which include age assurance methods such as open banking, photo-identification matching, and facial age estimation, among others.