Phil Cotter Executive Officer of the ADVP and CEO of SmartSearch

The Association of Digital Verification Professionals (ADVP) supports effective, proportionate and privacy-preserving age assurance to help ensure people can access products, services and content appropriate to their age.

Age assurance has an increasingly important role across multiple sectors including social media, dating, gaming, retail, e-commerce, gambling, adult content, AI and generative AI services, connected devices and financial services. However, protecting people, particularly children, must not come at the expense of privacy, inclusion or individual choice.

Importantly, age assurance does not always require identity verification. In many circumstances, a service only needs to establish whether someone meets an age threshold, not who they are.

ADVP believes that trusted age assurance should be built on six key principles:

1. Choice and inclusion: Age verification, estimation and inference all have a role. No single method suits every situation, and accessible alternatives should be available.
2. Privacy by design: Only the minimum personal information necessary should be collected or shared. In many cases, confirming age eligibility should be sufficient without revealing identity or date of birth.
3. Clear standards: International standards, independent testing and certification should establish confidence in the accuracy, security and fairness of solutions.
4. Accountability: Technology providers, platforms and regulators must have clearly defined responsibilities for effective implementation and oversight.
5. Evidence-based regulation: Technical performance, privacy protection and real-world safety outcomes must be assessed independently and transparently.
6. Interoperability: Reusable age credentials and privacy-enhancing technologies can reduce repeated checks and unnecessary data sharing, improve user experience and give consumers greater choice over how and through whom they demonstrate their age.

A joined-up approach

ADVP supports greater collaboration between UK and international regulators to encourage consistent standards, avoid unnecessary fragmentation and promote innovation and fair competition.

We also believe that proportionate, privacy-preserving age assurance need not undermine freedom of expression or require unnecessary identification and surveillance.

Working together

ADVP recognises the Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA) as a specialist global trade body focused on detailed age assurance policy and technical matters, including standards, testing and certification.

ADVP focuses on the wider digital verification landscape, particularly trusted digital identity, interoperability, consumer choice, inclusion and proportionate regulation in the UK.

We support close cooperation across the industry to develop an age assurance ecosystem that benefits consumers, businesses and society.

Our central message is simple:

Age assurance should enable safe, age-appropriate access without unnecessary identification, surveillance or exclusion.

Through clear standards, meaningful choice, privacy protection, independent evidence and consistent regulation, we can build trust and deliver better outcomes for everyone.