Next event: Vote in plenary scheduled 2021/07/06 more...
- Debate in plenary scheduled 2021/07/05
- Coreper letter confirming interinstitutional agreement 2021/05/28
- Approval in committee of the text agreed at 1st reading interinstitutional negotiations 2021/05/26
- Committee decision to enter into interinstitutional negotiations confirmed by plenary (Rule 71) 2020/12/16
- Committee decision to enter into interinstitutional negotiations announced in plenary (Rule 71) 2020/12/14
- Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading 2020/12/11
- Vote in committee, 1st reading 2020/12/07
- Committee decision to open interinstitutional negotiations with report adopted in committee 2020/12/07
- Committee opinion 2020/12/02
- Amendments tabled in committee 2020/11/27
Progress: Awaiting Parliament's position in 1st reading
Role | Committee | Rapporteur | Shadows |
---|---|---|---|
Lead | LIBE | SIPPEL Birgit ( S&D) | ZARZALEJOS Javier ( EPP), IN 'T VELD Sophia ( Renew), BREYER Patrick ( Verts/ALE), TARDINO Annalisa ( ID), WIŚNIEWSKA Jadwiga ( ECR), ERNST Cornelia ( GUE/NGL) |
Committee Opinion | FEMM | ANDERSON Christine ( ID) | Hilde VAUTMANS ( RE), Jadwiga WIŚNIEWSKA ( ECR), Silvia MODIG ( GUE/NGL), Kira Marie PETER-HANSEN ( Verts/ALE), Robert BIEDROŃ ( S&D), Lena DÜPONT ( PPE) |
Committee Opinion | CULT | ||
Committee Opinion | IMCO | ||
Committee Opinion | ITRE |
Lead committee dossier:
Legal Basis:
TFEU 016-p2, TFEU 114-p1
Legal Basis:
TFEU 016-p2, TFEU 114-p1Subjects
Events
The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs adopted the report by Birgit SIPPEL (S&D, DE) on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council
on a temporary derogation from certain provisions of Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards as the use of technologies by number-independent interpersonal communications service providers for the processing of personal and other data for the purpose of combatting child sexual abuse online.
As a reminder, the proposal aims to introduce limited and temporary changes to the rules governing the privacy of electronic communications so that over the top (“OTT”) communication interpersonal services, such as web messaging, voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), chat and web-based email services, can continue to detect, report and remove child sexual abuse online on a voluntary basis.
The committee recommended that the European Parliament’s position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the Commission proposal.
Scope
Members considered that the proposed Regulation should only apply to videos or images exchanged over messaging or email services. It should not apply to the scanning of text or audio communication, which remains fully subject to the provisions of the e Privacy Directive.
In view of its temporary nature, the material scope of the proposed Regulation should be limited to the established definition of so called ‘child pornography’ as defined in Directive 2011/93/EU and ‘pornographic performance’ as defined in the same directive.
Additional safeguards
The committee stated that voluntary measures by providers offering number-independent interpersonal communications services in the EU applied for the sole purpose of detecting and reporting child sexual abuse online and detecting, removing and reporting child sexual abuse material should be subject to certain conditions:
- a mandatory prior data protection impact assessment pursuant and a mandatory consultation procedure, prior to the use of the technology;
- human overview and intervention is ensured for any processing of personal data, and no positive result is sent to law enforcement authorities or organisations acting in the public interest without prior human review;
- appropriate procedures and redress mechanisms are in place:
- no interference with any communication protected by professional secrecy;
- effective remedies provided by the Member States at national level.
All these conditions need to be met to ensure the proportionality of the restriction to the fundamental rights that this activity implies.
Data retention
When no online child sexual abuse has been detected, all data should be deleted immediately, according to Members. Only in confirmed cases can the strictly relevant data be stored for use by law enforcement for a maximum of three months.
Public register
The Commission should establish a public register of organisations acting in the public interest against child sexual abuse with which providers of number-independent interpersonal communications services can share personal data under this Regulation.
Time limitation of the proposed Regulation
Members proposed reducing the application period from 31 December 2025 to 31 December 2022.
PURPOSE: to enable the continuation of certain activities to combat sexual abuse of children online by creating a temporary derogation from certain provisions of Directive 2002/58/EC (Directive on privacy and electronic communications).
PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.
BACKGROUND: Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council lays down rules ensuring the right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to the processing of personal data in exchanges of data in the electronic communication sector.
Protecting children online is one of the EU's priorities. On 24 July 2020, the Commission adopted an EU strategy for a more effective fight against child sexual abuse which aims to provide an effective response, at Union level, to the crime of child sexual abuse. It announced that it shall propose the necessary legislation to tackle child sexual abuse online effectively by the second quarter of 2021.
Certain providers of number-independent interpersonal communications services are already using specific technologies to detect child sexual abuse on their services and report it to law enforcement authorities and to organisations acting in the public interest against child sexual abuse, and/or to remove child sexual abuse material.
These organisations refer to national hotlines for reporting child sexual abuse material, as well as organisations whose purpose is to reduce child sexual exploitation.
The ePrivacy Directive does not contain an explicit legal basis for voluntary processing of content or traffic data for the purpose of detecting sexual abuse of children online. However, it does provide that Member States may adopt legislative measures to limit the scope of the rights and obligations provided for in this Directive, which concern the confidentiality of communications and traffic data, for the purpose of the prevention and detection of offences related to sexual abuse of children.
Lack of Union action on this issue would risk creating fragmentation shall Member States adopt diverging national legislation. Pending the adoption of the announced long-term legislation, the Commission considers that it is essential to take immediate action to enable the continuation of some current activities to combat sexual abuse of children online.
CONTENT: the proposal aims to introduce a temporary and strictly limited derogation from the applicability of certain obligations of the ePrivacy Directive to enable providers of number-independent interpersonal communications services to continue using specific technologies and continue their current activities to the extent necessary to detect and report child sexual abuse online and remove child sexual abuse material on their services from December 2020, pending the adoption of the announced long-term legislation.
The proposal therefore contains safeguards to ensure that technologies benefitting from the derogation meet the standards of the best practices currently applied, and thereby limits the intrusiveness to the confidentiality of communications and the risk of circumvention.
The personal and other data used when carrying out the activities covered by the derogation set out in this Regulation, as well as the period during which the data is subsequently retained in case of positive results, shall be minimised so as to ensure that the derogation remains limited to what is strictly necessary. The providers shall publish reports on an annual basis on the processing falling within the scope of this Regulation.
The proposed Regulation shall apply from 21 December 2020 and shall cease to apply in December 2025. If the long-term legislation announced by the Commission is adopted and enters into force before that date, it shall repeal this Regulation.
Documents
- Coreper letter confirming interinstitutional agreement: GEDA/A/(2021)000000
- Approval in committee of the text agreed at 1st reading interinstitutional negotiations: GEDA/A/(2021)000000
- Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading: A9-0258/2020
- Committee opinion: PE659.041
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE661.791
- Committee draft report: PE660.288
- Contribution: COM(2020)0568
- Document attached to the procedure: OJ C 102 24.03.2021, p. 0004
- Document attached to the procedure: N9-0017/2021
- Legislative proposal: COM(2020)0568
- Legislative proposal: EUR-Lex
- Legislative proposal: COM(2020)0568 EUR-Lex
- Document attached to the procedure: OJ C 102 24.03.2021, p. 0004 N9-0017/2021
- Committee draft report: PE660.288
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE661.791
- Committee opinion: PE659.041
- Coreper letter confirming interinstitutional agreement: GEDA/A/(2021)000000
- Contribution: COM(2020)0568
Activities
- Caterina CHINNICI
Plenary Speeches (0)
- Cornelia ERNST
Plenary Speeches (0)
- Balázs HIDVÉGHI
Plenary Speeches (0)
- Sophia IN 'T VELD
Plenary Speeches (0)
- Othmar KARAS
Plenary Speeches (0)
- Juan Fernando LÓPEZ AGUILAR
Plenary Speeches (0)
- Birgit SIPPEL
Plenary Speeches (0)
- Hilde VAUTMANS
Plenary Speeches (0)
- Jadwiga WIŚNIEWSKA
Plenary Speeches (0)
- Christine ANDERSON
Plenary Speeches (0)
- Assita KANKO
Plenary Speeches (0)
- Stelios KYMPOUROPOULOS
Plenary Speeches (0)
- Javier ZARZALEJOS
Plenary Speeches (0)
- Nathalie COLIN-OESTERLÉ
Plenary Speeches (0)
- Loucas FOURLAS
Plenary Speeches (0)
- Patrick BREYER
Plenary Speeches (0)
- Jean-Lin LACAPELLE
Plenary Speeches (0)
Amendments | Dossier |
29 |
2020/0259(COD)
2020/11/13
FEMM
29 amendments...
Amendment 10 #
Proposal for a regulation Recital 6 (6) Until 20 December 2020, the processing of personal data by providers of number-independent interpersonal communications services by means of voluntary measures for the purpose of detecting and reporting child sexual abuse online and removing child sexual abuse and child sexual exploitation material is governed by Regulation (EU) 2016/679.
Amendment 11 #
Proposal for a regulation Recital 7 (7) Directive 2002/58/EC does not
Amendment 12 #
Proposal for a regulation Recital 8 (8) This Regulation therefore provides for a temporary derogation from Article 5(1) and Article 6 of Directive 2002/58/EC, which protect the confidentiality of communications and traffic data. Voluntary measures by providers offering number-independent interpersonal communications services in the Union applied for the sole purpose of detecting and reporting child sexual abuse online and detecting, removing and reporting child sexual abuse material therefore become subject to the safeguards and conditions set out in this Regulation. Since Directive 2002/58/EC was adopted on the basis of Article 114 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, it is appropriate to adopt
Amendment 13 #
Proposal for a regulation Recital 11 (11) Since the sole objective of this Regulation is to enable the continuation of certain existing activities aimed at combating child sexual abuse online, the derogation provided for by this Regulation should be limited to well-established technology that is regularly used by number-independent interpersonal communications services for the purpose of detecting and reporting child sexual abuse online and removing child sexual abuse material before the entry into force of this Regulation. The reference to the technology includes where necessary any human review directly relating to the use of
Amendment 14 #
Proposal for a regulation Recital 11 (11) Since the sole objective of this Regulation is to enable the continuation of certain existing activities aimed at combating child sexual abuse online, the derogation provided for by this Regulation should be limited to well-established technology that is regularly used by number-independent interpersonal communications services for the purpose of detecting and reporting child sexual abuse online and removing child sexual abuse material
Amendment 15 #
Proposal for a regulation Recital 11 a (new) (11a) In order to ensure the effectiveness of the declared objectives, providers of number-independent interpersonal communications services should be encouraged to incorporate effective measures for proper supervision in families;
Amendment 16 #
Proposal for a regulation Recital 14 (14) In order to ensure transparency and accountability in respect of the activities undertaken pursuant to the derogation, the providers should publish reports on an annual basis on the processing falling within the scope of this Regulation, including on the type and volumes of data processed, number of cases
Amendment 17 #
Proposal for a regulation Article 1 – paragraph 1 This Regulation lays down temporary and strictly limited rules derogating from certain obligations laid down in Directive 2002/58/EC, with the sole objective of enabling providers of number-independent interpersonal communications services to
Amendment 18 #
Proposal for a regulation Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2 – point a Amendment 19 #
Proposal for a regulation Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2 – point a (a) material constituting child pornography as defined in Article 2, point (c)
Amendment 20 #
Proposal for a regulation Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2 – point a a (new) (a a) ‘solicitation’as: (i) the proposal by an adult to meet a child who has not reached the age of sexual consent, for the purpose of committing any of the offences referred to in Article 3(4) and Article 5(6) of Directive 2011/93/EU; (ii) an attempt to commit the offences provided for in Article 5(2) and (3) by an adult soliciting a child who has not reached the age of sexual consent to provide child pornography depicting that child.
Amendment 21 #
Proposal for a regulation Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2 – point b Amendment 22 #
Proposal for a regulation Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2 – point c (c) ‘pornographic performance’ as defined in Article 2(e) of Directive 2011/93/EU, including revenge porn.
Amendment 23 #
Proposal for a regulation Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2 – point c a (new) (c a) ‘sex extortion’
Amendment 24 #
Proposal for a regulation Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2 a (new) (2 a) ‘child’means any person below the age of sexual consent;
Amendment 25 #
Proposal for a regulation Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point 2 b (new) Amendment 26 #
Proposal for a regulation Article 3 – paragraph 1 – introductory part The specific obligations set out in Article 5(1) and Article 6 of Directive 2002/58/EC shall not apply to the processing of personal
Amendment 27 #
Proposal for a regulation Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point a (a) the processing is proportionate and limited to well-established technologies
Amendment 28 #
Proposal for a regulation Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point d (d) the processing is limited to what is strictly necessary for the purpose of detection and reporting of child sexual abuse online and detection, reporting and removal of child sexual abuse material and
Amendment 29 #
Proposal for a regulation Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point d – indent 1 (new) - for its reporting and to respond to proportionate requests by law enforcement and other relevant public authorities;
Amendment 30 #
Proposal for a regulation Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point d – indent 2 (new) - for the blocking of the concerned user’s account;
Amendment 31 #
Proposal for a regulation Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point d – indent 3 (new) - in relation to data reliably identified as child pornography, for the creation of a unique, non-reconvertible digital signature (‘hash’);
Amendment 32 #
Proposal for a regulation Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point d – indent 4 (new) - for proceedings of administrative or judicial review or remedy.
Amendment 33 #
Proposal for a regulation Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point e (e) the provider annually publishes a report on its related processing, including on the type and volumes of data processed, number of cases
Amendment 34 #
Proposal for a regulation Article 3 – paragraph 2 Amendment 6 #
Proposal for a regulation Recital 4 (4) Sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children constitute serious violations of human rights, in particular of the rights of children to be protected from all forms of violence, abuse and neglect, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, as provided for by the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and by the Charter.
Amendment 7 #
Proposal for a regulation Recital 4 a (new) (4 a) Girls and young women are particularly exposed to the risks of sexual abuse, as well as sexual exploitation and account for the overwhelming majority of cases of child sexual abuse online. According to THORN and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection 80% of the children victim of sexual abuse were girls. Figures from a 2019 report from INHOPE show that 91 % of victims were girls, 7 % were boys and the medianage of victims is decreasing with 92 % of victims under the age of 13.According to End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography & Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT) international report from 2017 child sexual offenders are predominantly male10a, which is relevant when it comes to the definition of key indicators. It is therefore important that girls and boys have access to safe, accessible and age appropriate channels to report the abuse without fear, in particular when the abuser is in the inner circle of the victim, since in such instances the reporting is low. _________________ 10aECPAT Journal “End Child Sexual Exploitation international report”, published in April 2017; https://www.ecpat.org/wp- content/uploads/2017/04/Journal_No12- ebook.pdf
Amendment 8 #
Proposal for a regulation Recital 4 b (new) (4 b) On 24 July 2020, the Commission adopted an EU strategy for a more effective fight against child sexual abuse9b (“the Strategy”), which aims to provide an effective response, at Union level, to the crime of child sexual abuse with due regard to different forms of sexual abuse experienced by girls and boys. As part of the Strategy, the Commission announced that it will propose sector-specific legislation including “clear mandatory obligations to detect and report child and young girls sexual abuse online to bring more clarity and certainty to the work of both law enforcement and relevant actors in the private sector to tackle online abuse”. Nevertheless the strategy, there is a great need for preventive measures and a more targeted approach to take into account the specific circumstances and needs of various vulnerable groups of children, in particular girls. _________________ 9b Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, EU strategy fora more effective fight against child sexual abuse, 24.7.2020 COM(2020)0607 final.
Amendment 9 #
Proposal for a regulation Recital 5 (5) Number-independent communication services have a major role to play in detecting cases of child sexual abuse online and in removing at source child sexual abuse material from their networks to avoid further victimisation as every new visualisation of the material is harmful for the victim. Underaged children must have access to safe, accessible and age appropriate channels to report the abuse without fear, in particular when the abuser is in the inner circle of the victim. Certain providers of number-
source: 660.099
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