AVSecure

The effective “go-live” date for age verification, under the UK Digital Economy Act 2017, has been delayed. It was originally envisaged for end of April 2018 but is now scheduled for later this year. Due to required governmental processes the BBFC cannot release their approved guidance before September 2018. They then need to allow time for verification companies to adopt their final regulations. Discussions with the BBFC and DCMS indicate that the likely start date will now be between October 1st and November 31st this year.
Whilst we appreciate that this may cause frustration for some, it does allow AVSecure to deliver a final product that surpasses our initial expectations. We believe it will offer even greater benefits to all our users.
A 4-week public consultation period starts in this coming fortnight, where we expect many of the issues that have been documented in the press to be aired and further considered. This should result in improvements and additions to be made to existing rules to enhance consumer protection.
It also allows AVSecure time for deeper testing with our partners, which can only be a good thing. However, whilst you can relax a little, we do not expect the law to experience further delays.
Once the public consultation has been concluded there is a Parliamentary process required on the final guidance, so we suggest you prepare your company to install AVSecure by end of August/early September. This will allow plenty of time to educate your visitors and offer them the chance to verify before the effective date if they wish to do so. We can make our product available earlier for those that prefer but wanted to give you our thoughts on a what we believe is a suitable integration timetable, so that you don’t feel pressured or rushed.
We also envisage significant mainstream press and PR, associated with the Q4 go-live, will commence in September when Parliament returns from its summer recess.
From our perspective this delay is welcome as it allows orderly education of consumers and gives you extra time to consider opportunities that the age verification law may provide.
It is also worth noting that the success of AVSecure to date has been superb. We anticipate our users to be between 20-30 million at launch and believe we have the most privacy centric and robust age verification solution available.


Please keep checking our website for updates and further information or contact us at any time.

Best wishes,

Steve