Part 12: Interpretation and final provisions Interpretation Section 230: "Age verification" and "age estimation"
This section defines age verification and age estimation, and makes it clear that self-declaration of age, unless combined with other measures, does not count as either.
	In all instances where age verification or age estimation is mandated or permitted for compliance with duties under the Act, there is no requirement in the Act for the age verification or age estimation to be carried out directly by the regulated service provider itself. A regulated service provider may instead use a third party age verification or age estimation service.
	Age verification means any measure designed to verify the exact age of users of a regulated service. Where a regulated service provider relies on third party age verification for compliance with an obligation under the Act, the result passed to the regulated service provider may be the user’s exact age, confirmation that the user is above or below a specified age, or confirmation that the user is within a specified age range, provided that this result has been obtained through age verification.
	Age verification and age estimation must be used to comply with the new duties introduced for section 12, which requires service providers to use proportionate systems and processes designed to prevent children of any age from accessing primary priority content (as set out in section 61) on their service, and for section 82 which requires providers of services to use age verification or age estimation (or both) to prevent children from encountering regulated provider pornographic content.
	Age verification and age estimation may also be used to comply with duties under section 12(2) or (3) in circumstances where no specific duty to use age verification or age estimation applies (see section 12(7)) and may also be used to comply with duties under section 29(2) or (3).
	Age verification or age estimation must also be used if a provider seeks to conclude that children cannot access a service or part of a service, meaning that particular duties under Part 3 of the Act would not apply (see sections 12 and 29 in relation to safety duties protecting children, section 20(4) in relation to content reporting, section 21(5)(a) in relation to complaints procedures, and section 35(2) in relation to children’s access assessments).