Recital 3

Member States are increasingly introducing, or are considering introducing, national laws to establish a minimum age for minors to access certain online services. Those diverging national laws negatively affect the internal market, which, pursuant to Article 26 TFEU, comprises an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods and services and freedom of establishment are ensured, taking into account the inherently cross-border nature of the internet and online services and systems. The conditions for providers to restrict minors’ access to certain services and systems, as well as obligations regarding the design of their services and systems, require harmonisation so as to create legal certainty for providers offering services and systems accessible to minors across the Union, and ensuring a harmonised level of protection for minors irrespective of their location in the Union.