LONDON — Britain has been forced to delay enacting compulsory age checks for viewing online pornography because of an administrative error, the government announced on Thursday.

The new rules, intended to protect underage internet users from viewing adult content, were scheduled to come into force next month. Users would be asked to provide official identification to gain access to websites offering pornographic content. In most cases, private companies would provide the verification service.

Jeremy Wright, the secretary of state for the Culture Department in Britain, acknowledged that the government’s failure to tell the European Commission about details of the policy would delay the move by about six months.

“It has come to my attention in recent days that an important notification process was not undertaken for an element of this policy, and I regret to say that this will delay the commencement date,” Mr. Wright told Parliament on Thursday.