The EU approach to age verification

To help online platforms implement a user-friendly and privacy-preserving age verification method, the Commission is developing a harmonised approach across the EU in close collaboration with the Member States.

This initiative aims to allow EU users to prove they are old enough to access legally age restricted sites, starting with being over 18 years of age for accessing adult-restricted online content, such as pornography, gambling, purchasing alcohol, and others. It is a key step in supporting the implementation of the Digital Services Act.

Age Verification Blueprint

The Commission made a blueprint for an age verification solution available on 14 July 2025. It allows users to prove they are over 18 without sharing any other personal information. Apart from being privacy-preserving, it is user-friendly and fully interoperable with future EU Digital Identity Wallets.

The solution can also be easily adapted to prove other age ranges, for example 13+. The age verification blueprint will set a standard in terms of privacy and user-friendliness.

A second blueprint for an age verification solution was published on 10 October 2025, offering onboarding using passports and ID cards, as well as support for the Digital Credentials API.

Also called the ‘mini wallet’, the solution is built on the same technical specifications as the European Digital Identity Wallets that are to be rolled out by the end of 2026. This ensures compatibility and enables the integration of the age verification functionality in the future Wallets.

This solution comes in the form of a software solution that will now enter a pilot phase of testing with Member States, online platforms, end users and other interested parties, such as software solutions providers, for uptake by the market.

Member States testing the app will be able to customise it, for example, through translation into national language(s). The technical specifications, source code and a beta release of the solution are already published. The age verification blueprint is an open-source implementation of these specifications. It can be easily customised by app publishers, without the possibility, however, to change the privacy-preserving features. The design and development of this solution is supported by a contract awarded to T-Scy (Scytales and T-Systems).