Recital 49

In order to verify the parental responsibility for the purpose of the creation of an account by the guardian for the benefit of a minor, providers should be able to use signals deriving from the publicly accessible databases at the Member States’ level, such as those related to education or public birth registries, that the respective adult is a guardian of the minor concerned. Furthermore, in certain cases providers may already possess a signal that an adult is a guardian of a minor, such as in the case of past engagements with the service by the concerned minor and respective adult. In addition, adults should be able to self-declare that they exercise parental responsibility. Where such self-declaration is made, providers should make reasonable efforts to verify that the adult is the guardian of the minor concerned. Such verification should be carried out in a manner that respects data protection principles, particularly data minimization through the use of so-called ‘zero knowledge proof’, and should not lead to additional processing of personal data enabling the determination of the identity or tracking of the adult or minor concerned. This is without prejudice to the measures that the provider should be able to take to comply with its obligation under Article 18 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065. The power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFUE should be delegated to the Commission in order to amend this Regulation by specifying the proof and signals that might indicate the parental responsibility. The Commission should be able to further explore technical and operational requirements for the possibility to include EU age verification as a tool for verification of parental responsibility.