European Parliament changed its Legislative train: combating child sexual abuse online

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  In its communication presenting the new EU strategy for a more effective fight against child sexual abuse, the European Commission announced a series of measures to tackle child sexual abuse online, including new legislation. -On 10 September 2020, the Commission presented a first legislative proposal, containing an interim regulation allowing number-independent interpersonal communications services, such as webmail, messaging services and internet telephony, to derogate from the privacy rules contained in the ePrivacy Directive to enable them to continue to detect and report child sexual abuse material online on a voluntary basis. The act was adopted on 14 July 2021 and entered into force on 02 August 2021. It is was extended once and expired on 3 April 2026 as its new extension was not agreed ( see the related wagon: 'e-Privacy Directive: Derogation to combat child sexual abuse online' and 'EU Strategy for a more effective fight against child sexual' abuse' in the same train.)+On 10 September 2020, the Commission presented a first legislative proposal, containing an interim regulation allowing number-independent interpersonal communications services, such as webmail, messaging services and internet telephony, to derogate from the privacy rules contained in the ePrivacy Directive to enable them to continue to detect and report child sexual abuse material online on a voluntary basis. The act was adopted on 14 July 2021 and entered into force on 02 August 2021. It is was extended once and expired on 3 April 2026. Yet it was approved again and it is in force since 1 August 2026 ( see the related wagon: 'e-Privacy Directive: Derogation to combat child sexual abuse online' and 'EU Strategy for a more effective fight against child sexual' abuse' in the same train.)  Together with its new European strategy for a Better Internet for kids (BIK+), the Commission published on 11 May 2022 a proposal on permanent rules, which are intended to replace the interim regulation. The proposed rules will oblige providers to detect, report and remove child sexual abuse material on their services. Providers will need to assess and mitigate the risk of misuse of their services and the measures taken must be proportionate to that risk and subject to robust conditions and safeguards. They also foresee the creation of a new independent EU Centre on Child Sexual Abuse (EUCSA) to facilitate the efforts of service providers by acting as a hub of expertise. Compared to the interim regulations, these include mandatory measures to detect and report child sexual abuse. In case this long-term legislation is adopted and enters into force before the expiry date of the temporary regulation, it shall repeal the temporary regulation. 

  The rapporteur supports the creation of the EUCSA. Regarding its seat, he aligns the provisions of the proposal with the recent case-law of the European Court of Justice. The amendments tabled in committee were published on 30 May 2023. On 14 November 2023 the draft report was adopted in LIBE committee and on 16 November 2023 the LIBE report was tabled to the Plenary. On 22 November 2023 the LIBE committee decision to enter into interinstitutional negotiations was confirmed by plenary (Rule 71). The rapporteur gave an update on the current discussions in LIBE on 6 May 2026. -At the Council, the common position took a long time and several presidencies to be agreed upon. The Belgian, Hungarian and Polish presidencies of the Council of the EU did not manage to reach an agreement by the end of their mandates. Finally, it was during the Danish Presidency of the Council that a common position was reached on 26 December 2025. Hence T rilogues interinstitutional negotiations started on 9 December 2025 and are still ongoing. The fifth trilogue meeting took place on 11 May 2026. The Cyprus presidency would like to reach an agreement by the end of June 2026.+At the Council, the common position took a long time and several presidencies to be agreed upon. The Belgian, Hungarian and Polish presidencies of the Council of the EU did not manage to reach an agreement by the end of their mandates. Finally, it was during the Danish Presidency of the Council that a common position was reached on 26 December 2025. Hence T rilogues interinstitutional negotiations started on 9 December 2025 and are still ongoing. The last trilogue meeting took place on 29 June 2026. No agreement took place under the Cyprus presidency of the Council. The next trilogue under the Irish one is still to be determined.  In parallel on 6 February 2024 the Commission published a proposal on combatting child sexual abuse (both online and offline), which covers also offences such as livestreaming of child sexual abuse and intentional access and dissemination of CSA deepfakes. See our file ' Proposal for a revision of the combating child sexual abuse Directive (2011/93/EU)' for more details.