On Wednesday 5 February, Member State experts held an initial exchange of views in a working group on the Polish Presidency of the EU Council’s new compromise proposals on the Regulation on the removal of online child sexual abuse material (CSAM) (see EUROPE 13571/11).
According to one source, the discussion was constructive and gave the Polish Presidency a mandate to continue on the basis of the latest compromise.
The Presidency has proposed making the voluntary detection of ‘CSAM’ permanent, and has removed detection injunctions for private messaging platforms and services from the scope of the regulation.
According to another source, all the delegations have still expressed reservations, and the member countries that until now supported the Commission’s controversial proposals have expressed reluctance. The discussions revealed a persistent divergence between two groups of Member States.
As a reminder, countries such as Germany and the Netherlands have always opposed content detection orders, likening them to widespread surveillance of private communications, in violation of fundamental rights. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)