Background to the Age-Restricted Codes

The Age-Restricted Codes were initially known as the ‘Phase 2 Industry Codes’. This name related to how they were developed.

The Online Safety Act, which commenced on 23 January 2022, provides for industry bodies to develop industry codes to regulate ‘class 1’ and ‘class 2’ illegal and restricted online material, and for eSafety to register the codes if they meet the statutory requirements. If a code does not meet the requirements, then eSafety can develop an industry standard for that section of the online industry instead.

Development of the Age-Restricted Material Codes formally commenced on 1 July 2024 with the publication of eSafety’s second position paper.

The paper outlined lessons learned from the Unlawful Material Codes and Standards development process, discussed domestic and international regulatory contexts of child safety protections for class 1C and class 2 content, and set out specific suggested measures for industry’s consideration.

In addition to the publication of the position paper, eSafety also issued notices to industry to develop these codes on 1 July 2024. Under the notices, the matters to be addressed in the codes were broadly that:

• online industry must prevent and protect Australian children from accessing or being exposed to class 1C and class 2 material
• online industry must provide Australian end-users with effective information, tools and options to limit access and exposure to class 1C and class 2 material.

eSafety issued notices requesting the development of codes to five industry bodies and associations that represent the sections of the online industry to which the codes apply. The notice recipients were:

• Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association
• Australian Telecommunications Alliance (formerly Communications Alliance)
• Consumer Electronic Suppliers Association
• Digital Industry Group Inc.
• Interactive Games and Entertainment Association.

Public consultation

The industry associations conducted public consultation on the Age-Restricted Material Draft Codes from 22 October to 22 November 2024.

The Age-Restricted Material Draft Codes as they were released for the public consultation can be found at onlinesafety.org.au.

Review and registration of the codes

The industry associations submitted seven codes to eSafety for review on 28 February 2025, with the eighth code (for app distribution services) submitted for review on 27 March 2025.

In April 2025, the eSafety Commissioner wrote to the industry associations informing them of her preliminary view that the submitted codes would not provide the appropriate community safeguards required for them to be registered. Accordingly, the Commissioner provided the associations the opportunity to submit final revised codes for review by 20 May 2025.

On 20 May 2025, associations representing members of Australia’s online industry submitted to the eSafety Commissioner updated draft Age-Restricted Material Codes.

On 27 June 2025, the eSafety Commissioner registered the codes which apply to providers of hosting services, internet carriage services and internet search engine services sections of industry pursuant to subsection 140(2) of the Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth).

In June 2025, the eSafety Commissioner also wrote to the industry associations asking for clarification around some of the provisions in the remainder of the submitted codes, as well as requesting that some other provisions in the codes be strengthened. One of the primary concerns eSafety expressed to industry at this time was that measures for generative AI companion chatbot functionalities did not extend to how those functions may manifest on relevant electronic services or social media services.

On 4 July 2025, the industry representatives returned final draft codes. These final draft codes were published on the code drafting steering group website.

On 9 September 2025, eSafety registered six codes which apply to app distribution platforms, social media services (core features), social media services (messaging features), equipment providers, relevant electronic services and designated internet services.

Together, these registered codes are now the Age-Restricted Material Codes.