Ms Maria Mullan:

I will refer again to the question about children's rights and age. I am not entirely sure as to the motivation behind the age limit of 16 and whether this is related to the Internet. We recommend that this should not be a specific age limit and that the test to determine whether children would get access to the said commission should be based on a sufficient maturity test that relates to the evolving capacities of the child and respecting the views of the child, which would comply with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNCRC. It is a core principle of the UNCRC that those articles relating to the evolving capacity and the views of the child should be respected. It is also noted that children are data access subjects under the GDPR. The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner has a draft fundamentals document that states children have a right to access data provided they have the capacity to do so and that it is in their best interests.