The EU approach to age verification

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

This initiative aims to allow EU users to prove they are old enough to access legally age restricted sites, such as such as pornography, gambling, purchasing alcohol, and others. It is a key step in supporting the implementation of the Digital Services Act and reflects the Commission's priority of protecting minors online.

As of 15 April 2026, the age verification solution is technically ready for implementation and will be available to citizens soon in the form of an app.

The age verification solution has the highest standards of privacy available, as specified in the blueprint for the solution. Users are able to prove they are above a certain age without sharing any other personal information and their activity cannot be tracked. 

The solution is fully open source, meaning that as well as all Member States being able to use it, so can our global partners and private companies, should they wish to develop harmonised, innovative solutions. It can be easily customised by app publishers, although they cannot change the privacy-preserving features.

Finally, the solution is user-friendly. It is simple to set up and will work on any device - phone, tablet or computer.

The design and development of this age verification blueprint is supported by a contract awarded to T-Scy (Scytales and T-Systems). The technical specifications, source code and a beta release are already published.

Age Verification Blueprint

The Commission made a blueprint for an age verification solution available on 14 July 2025.

The blueprint contains reference technical specifications for age verification developed by the Commission. This includes the technical architecture, protocols, interfaces and open-source reference implementation.

The blueprint, when implemented in an age verification solution, 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 that are set to be rolled out by the end of 2026, as it is built on the same technical specification. This ensures compatibility and enables the integration of the age verification functionality in the future Wallets. 

When implementing the blueprint, Member States can easily adapt their solution to prove other age ranges, for example 13+. The age verification blueprint will set a standard in terms of privacy and user-friendliness.

This blueprint was piloted in the form of a software solution with frontrunner Member States, who can now integrate it into their national wallets, so every citizen can use it, if needed. Member States are now able to customise it, for example, through translation into national language(s).