The German Bundestag today passed the federal government's draft law on the national implementation of the Digital Services Act (DSA) and thus, among other things, made decisions regarding the corresponding national responsibilities. Accordingly, the Federal Network Agency will be responsible for the supervision of providers and the enforcement of the DSA in Germany and will work together with the other competent authorities in the member states and the European Union. In addition, the Federal Agency for the Protection of Children and Young People in the Media (BzKJ) in Bonn and the bodies designated by the federal states to enforce media regulations will be responsible for the implementation of children's rights in the digital environment.
The Office for the Enforcement of Children's Rights in Digital Services (KidD) will be set up at the Federal Agency for the Protection of Children and Young People in the Media for this purpose. The KidD-Office will be able to act independently of instructions with appropriate staff and material resources that can be managed autonomously and include a research budget.
From the perspective of the Digital Opportunities Foundation, the establishment of an independent office for the enforcement of children's rights in digital services at the Federal Agency for the Protection of Children and Young People in the Media is expressly to be welcomed. By establishing this office, the legislator is appropriately emphasising the special significance of the life phase of young people and their sensitivity in a ubiquitous digital everyday life and recognising the specific needs and interests of children and young people in the digital environment, as comprehensively described by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in its General Comment No. 25.