DECISIVE PROGRESS ON THE EUROPEAN REGULATION TO COMBAT ONLINE CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE

The European Parliament and the Council held their fifth trilogue on Monday since negotiations began in December 2025 on the European Regulation to prevent and combat online child sexual abuse. The meeting was the last under the Cypriot Presidency of the Council and helped consolidate the significant progress achieved over the past six months.

Thanks to the intensive political and technical work carried out during this period, compromises have been reached on virtually all chapters of the Regulation. These include provisions concerning its subject matter, scope and definitions, including the addition of manuals providing instructions on how to commit child sexual abuse offences; obligations for digital service providers to assess, prevent and mitigate risks; the national authorities responsible for implementing the Regulation; and the procedure for removing and blocking illegal content.

Very significant progress has also been made towards establishing the future European Union Centre for the Protection of Children against Sexual Abuse. This new body will strengthen the European Union’s autonomy and operational capacity, support national authorities and service providers, manage databases of indicators and help ensure that reports reach the competent authorities more quickly and effectively.

The main outstanding issue is the detection system. Parliament and the Council have agreed on the principle that the future legal framework should include both detection orders issued by an authority and searches carried out by providers on their own initiative, and that both instruments may apply to publicly accessible and non-public content. Their precise scope, the conditions governing their use and the necessary safeguards must now be defined to ensure that any measure is targeted, proportionate and respectful of fundamental rights.

MEP Javier Zarzalejos, Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and rapporteur for the Regulation, stressed that the progress achieved demonstrates that the establishment of a permanent and effective European framework for protecting children is drawing ever closer. Negotiations will continue under the Irish Presidency of the Council, with the aim of finding balanced solutions to the remaining issues as soon as possible and finalising a Regulation capable of strengthening prevention, improving the protection of victims and combating the dissemination of child sexual abuse material online more effectively.