In autumn 2006 the office of the Norwegian Consumer Ombudsman (Bjørn Erik Thon) initiated a dialogue between various industry stakeholders and authorities on making children’s use of mobile phones safer. A very constructive dialogue has led to measures being planned and implemented.

The Consumer Ombudsman and the Minister for Children and Equality (Karita Bekkemellem) have organised two roundtable meetings on the subject, in December 2006 and June 2007 respectively. Some of the main achievements so far include the:

• Introduction of age verification by telecom providers
• Launch of a commonsense mobile phone guide for adults and children by ICT Norway and its collaborating partners including the Norwegian Awareness Node, SAFT.
• Publication of tips for safe use of Internet and mobile net by SAFT, with the Norwegian internet safety campaign.
• Conception of a web safe-label* by the Norwegian Media Authority/SAFT and ICT Norway.
  
  This collaboration in safer media use for children and young people will continue and expand. Another roundtable meeting is planned to take place before Christmas 2007.
  
  "The measures launched at the round table in June 2007 are a real step in the right direction", says consumer ombudsman Bjørn Erik Thon - "now I’m looking forward to continuing". One of the measures planned for the future is creating a programme on safe use of the media for the yearly primary and secondary school event, Grunnskolens Uke - a week dedicated to the collaboration between homes and school.
  
  "This kind of collaboration between business, the authorities and industry bodies is almost unique, nationally and internationally. It has been taken notice of internationally and I have already been talking to many other people about how various stakeholders can achieve results through collaboration and dialogue", says Thon.
  
  Rita Brudalen, SAFT
  
  Fore more information on the Norwegian Model, read the full article.
  
  *The label, that has not yet been launched, will be issued to website providers who excel in providing moderation, privacy terms and guidelines, as well as reporting features. The label will highlight good examples, as opposed to penalise bad examples.