The second set of interinstitutional negotiations (‘trilogues’) between the Cyprus Presidency of the EU Council and the European Parliament on the extension of the derogation from the ePrivacy Directive - which allows communications platforms to detect, report and remove child sexual abuse material online - ultimately reached a political impasse, on Monday 16 March.
The Council supported, without amendment, the European Commission’s proposal to extend the derogation for a further two years, until 2028. This extension was intended to enable the negotiations on the Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) Regulation - which began in December 2025 - to be concluded, in order to establish a permanent legislative framework (see EUROPE 13795/13).
The failure of the negotiations means that there will be a legal vacuum from 3 April 2026, the date on which the current derogation is due to expire.
Despite the efforts of the Cyprus Presidency, “it was not possible to reach a political agreement with the European Parliament”, regretted a spokesperson, adding that MEPs “insisted on amending the scope of the interim measure in a way that, in the view of the vast majority of Member States, would have made this measure ineffective”.
While the negotiating mandate given to the Presidency allowed for a degree of flexibility in the timeframe of the derogation, it firmly ruled out any possibility of reducing the scope of the derogation in terms of the data processed. However, the European Parliament’s red line was precisely to restrict the scanning by platforms to known content and profiles already considered suspicious, with a view to protecting personal data (see EUROPE 13826/6). As a result, since their first trilogue, which was also unsuccessful (see EUROPE 13827/34), no sufficient progress or concessions have been made to reach an agreement between the parties.
Following this setback, the Cyprus Presidency made no secret of its concern: “Today’s development creates a vacuum which (...) will have repercussions on the ability to save victims of this horrendous crime and to bring perpetrators to justice”, the spokesperson lamented.
The Council Presidency now wants to be involved in the “rapid conclusion” of negotiations on the CSAM Regulation itself, the third trilogue of which is currently scheduled for 11 May (see EUROPE 13817/7). (Original version in French by Justine Manaud)