South Korea청소년 보호법 (Youth Protection Act), Article 16, age and identity verification for youth-harmful media
청소년 보호법 (Youth Protection Act, Act No. 21537, most recently amended , effective ) Art. 16; verification duty introduced by the amendment of Act No. 6479 (2001), renumbered by the 2011 whole amendment
In force since .
An adult content age verification (AV) rule binding private bodies.
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- Applies to anyone who sells, rents, distributes or otherwise provides media designated as harmful to youth (청소년유해매체물), including adult content sites.
- Verify the recipient's age and identity before providing such media, using in-person confirmation, a certified digital certificate or mobile phone carrier authentication.
- Do not provide such media to anyone under 19.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Private right of actionNo
Penalties
Up to 3 years imprisonment or a fine of up to 30,000,000 Korean won for commercial provision to a minor without verification, plus per-violation administrative fines
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (여성가족부) and the Youth Protection Committee, with criminal enforcement by police and prosecutors
Settledness
- As of
- Open questions
- Which harmful-to-youth media does the Presidential Decree specify for the duty in Article 16(1) of the Youth Protection Act to verify the other party's "나이 및 본인 여부" ("age and identity"), and is an online service that provides such media covered by that specification?
What it reaches
Age threshold
19
Covered services
Media, publications and online content designated as harmful to youth (청소년유해매체물), including adult content sites
Verification methods
Gov ID, Digital ID, Third party service
What it makes you log
Logging duty
Article 16(1) requires a seller or distributor of media harmful to youth to verify the other party's age and identity, and Article 16(4) leaves the method to a Presidential Decree; neither names a log or record of the verification, a retention period or a regulator's access to one. Records of verification, if any, would sit in the Decree, which this row does not cite and which was not read.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
Requires anyone who sells, rents, distributes or otherwise provides media designated as harmful to youth (Korean: 청소년유해매체물) to verify the recipient's age and identity, using in-person confirmation, a certified digital certificate, or mobile phone carrier authentication, and prohibits providing such media to anyone under 19. The verification duty dates to the 2001 amendment (Act No. 6479, effective ) and sits in Article 16 of the wholly amended Act. Commercial violations carry criminal penalties under Article 58.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app publishes adult content.
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