Ofcom Illegal Harms: risk-assessment deadline 16 March 2025; Codes in force 17 March 2025
Ofcom’s Online Safety compliance dates page records illegal content risk assessments due 16 March 2025 and Illegal content Codes of Practice in force from 17 March 2025 for in-scope user-to-user and search services.
Ofcom’s Important dates for Online Safety compliance page (checked 20 September 2026) records the first Illegal Harms wave for regulated user-to-user and search services:
- 16 March 2025 — completion date for illegal content risk assessments after Ofcom published risk-assessment guidance and the first Illegal Harms Codes on 16 December 2024.
- 17 March 2025 — Illegal content Codes of Practice come into force; services must comply with the illegal content safety duties.
The regulatory documents hub hosts the Illegal content Codes of Practice for user-to-user services and for search services dated 26 February 2025, plus Risk Assessment Guidance.
UA / product reading
In-scope game services with user-to-user features (chat, UGC, multiplayer social layers) and search services fall under these duties if they meet Online Safety Act scope. The milestone is risk assessment and illegal-content safety measures, not a UK ad-library rule and not an automatic ban on game UA creatives. Failure to meet deadlines can lead to Ofcom enforcement under the Act.
| Field | Evidence (Ofcom dates page) |
|---|---|
| Risk-assessment completion | 2025-03-16 |
| Illegal content Codes in force | 2025-03-17 |
| Who should act | All OS services including VSPs (risk assessment); all OS services (Codes) |
| Codes PDF issue date on documents hub | 2025-02-26 |
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