On Wednesday 31 January, MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties adopted a draft report by Birgit Sippel (S&D, German) aimed at extending until May 2025 the exemption from the rules on the protection of privacy online (the e-Privacy Directive) to enable Internet platforms to track down online child sexual abuse material on a voluntary basis (see EUROPE 13331/17).
This will avoid a legal vacuum when the first derogation expires in August 2024. The draft report was adopted by 43 votes to 19 with 4 abstentions.
This one-year extension reduces the proposal made by the Commission at the end of November, which had suggested extending this provision until mid-2026.
In this report, the elected representatives stressed the importance of adopting permanent rules, including preventive measures for online child sexual abuse material, believing that extending the current derogation should be a one-off solution.
The report adopted, which enables the European Parliament to enter into negotiations with the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU, also removes the definition of child ‘grooming’, which will no longer fall within the scope of this interim legislation.
The negotiating mandate with the Council of the EU was adopted by 49 votes in favour, 17 against and one abstention. Confirmation of the mandate will be submitted to next week’s plenary session. At that point, negotiations can begin with the Council of the EU, which has adopted the Commission’s proposal unchanged.
Link to the adopted report: https://aeur.eu/f/anq (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)