We established the post of Youth Protection Officer in 2005 in order to help protect children and young people when using our products. The officer advises our company on all issues relating to this area and provides support for us in adapting products to the relevant statutory regulations. The Youth Protection Officer is available as a contact for our customers to provide assistance with any issues relating to youth protection. The O₂ youth protection system has been established to help protect children and young people. This system gives parents the opportunity of blocking unsuitable content on a mobile phone used by a child. Adult customers can simply activate an age restriction for WAP content on their child's mobile phone - relating to specific mobile content. This simple action prevents children from accessing specific content on the portals of Telefónica O₂ Germany.

O₂ is also one of the 20 founder members of the project "One network for children" launched by the federal government. This project is directed towards mastering the challenge of creating a protected surfing space for children.

A technical solution allows parents and teachers to be sure that children can only surf approved pages of the fragFINN Whitelist. The children's protection software also ensures that less experienced children up to the age of 12 are free to surf within a safely designated surfing area. The children's protection software can be downloaded here free of charge:

www.fragfinn.de/kinderliste/eltern/kinderschutz/schutzsoftware.html

We are also working together with our joint-venture partners to provide education and explanations for children, young people and their parents.

Since October 2008, O₂ has been offering a dedicated hotline for youth protection. Parents and teachers can call the hotline on 22988 from their O₂ mobile phone free of charge. It offers assistance and advice on products and services designed to protect young people. Our objective for the coming year is ongoing promotion of training designed to improve the knowledge base of our employees and their ability to advise young people on the Youth Protection Hotline and in our shops.

We check all the content that can be found on our Active Mobile Portal and on the O₂ Website on the basis of the guidelines developed under the Voluntary Self-Regulation Multimedia. We identify all content not approved for young people and classify which content can be released for users above the age of 16 and which content is appropriate for users above the age of 18.

Classified content over the age of 18 is blocked as standard for all customers. Postpaid customers - i.e. customers who have a fixed contract with O₂ and who are billed in an invoice - are able to apply for release of "Over 18 content" and then receive a youth protection PIN by SMS. They have to prove their age when they take out the contract by showing their passport or identity card.

Young people between the ages of 16 and 18 can only take out postpaid contracts with written consent from their parents. We only conclude prepaid contracts with customers who have reached the age of 16.

We don't conclude prepaid or postpaid contracts with young people under the age of 16. Parents are the contractual partners in these cases. They can block unsuitable content by calling the O₂ Hotline or set up a bar under "My Profile" at O₂ Online on the Internet. We require the four-digit PIN number that was set up when the contract was taken out. Since this kind of bar can be lifted using the PIN code, this should not be forwarded to children using a mobile phone.

Blocking or releasing content for children aged 16 and 18 is only effective for O₂ portals. However, the bar can also be used for other access pathways, for example for DSL, provided the relevant content provider supports the O₂ Youth Protection System.

The independent Voluntary Self-regulation Multimedia Expert Commission reached the conclusion in 2007 that the two-stage age verification system practiced by O₂ was a compliant measure in accordance with the regulations for a closed user group pursuant to Article 4 section 2 sentence 2 of the State Treaty on Youth Media Protection (Jugendmedienschutz-Staatsvertrag, JMStV). It ensures that only identified and adult persons have access to closed user groups and passing access data on to minors by those users is prevented effectively. This makes O₂ the first integrated communications provider in Germany to be licensed to provide third parties with an age verification for "Over 18 content" accredited by the Voluntary Self-regulation Multimedia.

We have formulated our own internal guidelines for marketing and advertising that take account of legislation in Germany and our own voluntary commitments. These regulations commit O₂ to setting up a clear, transparent and comprehensible tariff structure. We offer young people value-for-money school pupil and teenager rates. We also recommend cost-effective prepaid packages to parents and their children, for example from our Fonic discount brand. Any call always costs 9 cents a minute, irrespective of the network. Likewise, SMS messages only cost 9 cents.

Our guidelines preclude us from concluding postpaid contracts with young people under the age of 18. We also refrain from selling prepaid cards to customers under the age of 16. Parents can have certain numbers blocked - for example 0900- numbers for value added services - or services for their children's mobile phone. This means children and young people are unable to dial up these numbers. Regrettably, 0137 numbers cannot yet be excluded from these bars for technical reasons. On the other hand, O₂ DSL contracts allow 0137 numbers to be blocked.

You will also find information on youth protection in our user manuals. Every customer receives a user manual with their O₂ SIM card. Our youth protection brochure and our update parental handbook can be accessed online in the customer portal by clicking on www.o2online.de/goto/jugendschutz.