Brussels, 07/04/2000 (Agence Europe) - Next Monday 10 April, the European Parliament will vote on the report by the British Christian Democrat Timothy Kirkhope concerning "the initiative by the Austrian Republic in view of the adoption of a decision by the Council relating to the fight against pedopornography on the Internet."' This report that was unanimously adopted by the competent Parliamentary committee, underlined that the fight against pedopornography must be lead at a supranational level and that a joint action by the Member States in the framework of the EU is now indispensable. Welcoming the Austrian initiative, the report underlines the need to precisely define the crime of pdeopornography and set an age limit. All persons aged less than 16 must be protected, therefore by setting an age limit as reference to define what must be considered as pedopornography.
The report reminds that the Council decision proposed by Austria mainly contains the following points: 1) the Member States must take the necessary measures to encourage the users of the Internet to inform the relevant authorities (police) when they find pedopornographic material; 2) to facilitate the detection and repression of infractions, the consider establishing specialised units within the authorities and to create central points managed on a 24 hours basis by qualified persons; 3) the Member States ensure that the authorities intervene quickly and insure the widest cooperation possible between each other; 4) the necessary changes to bring, following the technological development, to the penal codes which must be regularly reassessed; 5) Europol must be informed of the suspect cases.
The competent Parliamentary committee feels that the Council decision should be more binding and that the measures proposed cannot be left to the discretion of the Member States. The Culture and youth committee consulted for an opinion, underlined that beyond the fight against pedopornography on the Internet, poverty, ignorance and prejudices will have to be fought and increasing the value that some societies have for their children and that they have of themselves, as well as saving and reintegrating victims. As for the legal committee (also consulted for an opinion), felt that a definition of pedopornograhic material is necessary given that the member States must agree on the type of material to fight together.