eco is critical of the draft for a new Youth Media Protection Contract introduced in mid-May of this year, as was communicated in a position statement on 24 June. The main point of criticism is the unclear regulation on the provision of a possibility for age classification of content. According to the draft, providers that commercially store third-party information for users (for example, User-Generated Content platforms, UGC) should in future offer a technical possibility for age. Here, it remains unclear whether this regulation would only apply to platform providers or also to classic Hosting providers.
In the opinion of eco, such a regulation could also contradict the responsibilities for Hosting providers as set out in the German Telemedia Act and the European E-Commerce Directive. The practical implementation of such a regulation is questionable, as there is currently no appropriate system for age ratings for of individual content on UGC platforms. Some platforms make use of the aged.xml label, but this can only apply to the platform as a whole, and cannot be used for individual pieces of content. For this reason, eco see it as more appropriate to completely forego the regulation, as it will not contribute to legal certainty and ultimately it will not support the actual objective – of greater use and spread of age rating symbols.
A second point concerns the international compatibility of age classifications. eco advocates the creation of internationally compatible age rating symbols, to potentially work towards a cross-border standard in the medium to long term, or to become a part of an existing process. The prerequisite for this is a flexible age classification system. International providers, above all, require compatible, usable and legally secure implementable classification systems. As yet, a clear idea of how the various styles of age classification in international classification systems could be integrated into the German system is lacking.
The eco position is being taken into the consultation process, and was also sent to the responsible solicitors in the State Chancellery. eco will be actively involved in the continuing consultation process and will remain informed of further developments. A concrete schedule has not yet been made public.
