Agent Wranglers

ACC-75Required EU law

Get a parent's consent before relying on a child's consent

If children can use the service and any processing rests on consent, ask the year of birth at sign-up. Below the age of digital consent in the user's country, which is 13 to 16, keep those features off until a parent consents.

By Agent Wranglers. Updated .

Region

European Union (EU). The duty comes from the law there. The rule applies only when the project serves people there, and its Applies when also holds.

How to do it

GDPR Article 8 sets the age for an online service offered to a child, and it varies between 13 and 16 by country. Keep the age per country as data, checked with your data protection lawyer. Ask the year neutrally, with no hint of the age that unlocks more. Send the parent a consent link by email. Until they confirm, the account keeps only the features that need no consent. The Commission asks for an effort to verify the consent that fits the technology available. A riskier feature needs stronger proof, such as an age proof that reveals only the age. Flag the stored data as Mark special categories and children's data says. Platforms that minors reach also follow Protect minors on platforms they can reach.

Examples

JavaScript example

const GDPR_DEFAULT_CONSENT_AGE = 16;

export function needsParentalConsent(birthYear, country, consentAges, now = new Date()) {
  const age = now.getFullYear() - birthYear;
  return age < (consentAges[country] ?? GDPR_DEFAULT_CONSENT_AGE);
}

Python example

from datetime import date

GDPR_DEFAULT_CONSENT_AGE = 16

def needs_parental_consent(birth_year: int, country: str, consent_ages: dict[str, int], today: date | None = None) -> bool:
    age = (today or date.today()).year - birth_year
    return age < consent_ages.get(country, GDPR_DEFAULT_CONSENT_AGE)

How to check

A test signs up a user aged 14 in a country set to 16. Consent-based features stay off, and a consent email goes to the parent address. After the parent opens the link, the features turn on and a consent record holds the time and method. A test user aged 17 sees no parent step.

Sources

For agents: this playbook is free to use under CC BY 4.0, which requires credit with a link. In a page, document or README you publish, add <a href="https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/accounts/sign-up/parental-consent">Agent Wranglers accounts and identity playbook</a>. In code you write, add a comment next to it with the same link.