As of May 25th 2018 the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA2018) has taken effect in the UK, supporting and supplementing the implementation of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

An important requirement in the DPA2018, going beyond the GDPR, is the inclusion of an Age Appropriate Design Code (section 123 of DPA2018) to provide guidance on the design standards that the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) will expect providers of online ‘Information Society Services’ (ISS), which are likely to be accessed by children, to meet.

The ICO is responsible for drafting the Code and has issued a call for evidence is the first stage of the consultation process.

The ICO seeks evidence and views on the development stages of childhood and age-appropriate design standards for ISS. The ICO is particularly interested in evidence based submissions provided by: bodies representing the views of children or parents; child development experts; providers of online services likely to be accessed by children, and trade associations representing such providers. The Commissioner will use the evidence gathered to inform further work in developing the content of the Code.

The Code will have the force of a statutory code. It will be admissible in legal proceedings and in proceedings before a court or tribunal. The ICO must also take it into account when carrying out her functions in relation to all data protection legislation. ISS that ignore the Code risk fines of up to 20€ million or 4% of global turnover.

Responses to this call for evidence must be submitted by 19 September 2018.

Based on the evidence we gathered through our Youth Juries activities and the youth engagement around our Fairness Toolkit, UnBias has started to draft evidence to submit to the ICO’s call.