Recital 39

Codes of conduct can be an important tool to protect minors in the online environment. In that context, the Commission should encourage the drawing up or further development of voluntary codes of conduct at Union level establishing common methodologies and criteria for age rating systems, to contribute to the harmonised operation of such systems in the application of this Regulation, including by providers of software application stores. The codes of conduct should in particular facilitate the mutual recognition and consistent application of age ratings across Member States, define appropriate criteria, methodologies and sources of information for assessing the age-appropriateness of the most relevant types of content including violent, sexual, gambling and self-harm content as well as in-app purchases, contact risks and addictive design features as well as establish the necessary remedies and redress mechanisms and ensure transparency, combined with regular, transparent and independent monitoring and evaluation of the achievement of the objectives aimed at. The refusal without proper explanations by a service provider of the Commission’s invitation to participate in the application of such a code of conduct could be taken into account, where relevant, when determining whether the service provider has infringed the obligations laid down by this Regulation. The mere fact of participating in and implementing a given code of conduct should not in itself presume compliance with this Regulation. The Pan-European system (PEGI) age classification system and PEGI Code of Conduct set a benchmark for the participating companies with respect to age labelling, promotion and marketing and reflects the video games industry’s commitment to provide information to the public in a responsible manner. The rules on codes of conduct under this Regulation could serve as a basis for already established co-regulatory efforts at the Union level to be integrated as a code of conduct. This includes, but does not concern exclusively, the PEGI age rating system, provided that it provides a high level of privacy, safety and security of minors as required by this Regulation.