Register of Online Safety Codes and Standards

The Unlawful Material Codes regarding class 1A and class 1B illegal material for five industry sections were added to the register on 16 June 2023, and came into effect on 16 December 2023. An additional Online Safety Code for internet search engine services was added to the register on 12 September 2023 and came into effect on 12 March 2024.

The Age-Restricted Material Codes regarding class 1C and class 2 material for three industry sections (internet carriage services, hosting services and search engine services) were added to the register on 27 June 2025, and will come into effect beginning on 27 December 2025 (with some measures commencing later).

Six additional Age-Restricted Material Codes for app distribution platforms, social media services (core features), social media services (messaging features), equipment providers, relevant electronic services and designated internet services were added to the register on 9 September 2025, and will come into effect beginning on 9 March 2026 (with some measures commencing later).

The Unlawful Material Standards for relevant electronic services and designated internet services regarding class 1A and class 1B material were registered on 21 June 2024, and came into effect on 22 December 2024. 

eSafety issued notices to industry representatives for the development of the online safety codes to apply to eight key sections of the online industry. The eight key sections of the online industry are defined in the Online Safety Act 2021 (Cth). They include:

• providers of social media services
• providers of relevant electronic services (for example instant messaging services, chat services and online multi-player gaming)
• designated internet services (includes websites)
• providers of search engine services
• providers of app distribution services
• providers of hosting services
• providers of internet carriage services
• manufacturers, suppliers, maintainers and installers of equipment used to access online services.

Notices issued: Unlawful Material Codes

In April 2022, eSafety issued notices to industry representatives for the development of the Unlawful Material Codes (previously referred to as the ‘Phase 1 Codes’) to apply to eight key sections of the online industry by 9 September 2022.

eSafety issued a second set of notices in June 2022, which extended the due date for codes to be submitted for eSafety’s consideration to 18 November 2022. Both the original and variation notices can be found on this page. 

Notices issued: Age-Restricted Material Codes

On 1 July 2024, eSafety issued notices to industry representatives for the development of the Age-Restricted Material Codes (previously referred to as the ‘Phase 2 Codes’) by 19 December 2024. These notices applied to the eight key sections of the industry.

On 4 July 2024, eSafety varied the notice issued to industry representatives for equipment service providers on 1 July 2024 to include Digital Industry Group Inc as a recipient of that notice, in response to the industry’s request.

On 15 August 2024, eSafety varied the notice issued to industry representatives for designated internet service providers on 1 July 2024 to remove the Interactive Games & Entertainment Association as a recipient of that notice, in response to the industry’s request. 

On 13 December 2024, eSafety varied the notices issued to industry representatives to extend the due date for industry codes to be submitted for eSafety’s consideration to 28 February 2025.

On 27 February 2025, eSafety varied the notice issued to industry representatives for app distribution service providers to extend the due date for the app distribution services code to be submitted for eSafety’s consideration to 28 March 2025.

The original and variation notices for all variations can be found on this page.