Strasbourg, 16/03/2006 (Agence Europe) - On 13 March, in the context of consultation procedure, the EP Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) adopted the report by Boguslaw Sonik (EPP-ED, Poland) approving a proposal from the Belgian State aimed at improving current legislation to protect children against sex offences in Europe. The aim of the proposal is to ensure that any court prohibition on working with children, arising from sex offences against minors or from child pornography, will be enforceable not only by the Member State which issues it, but also by any other EU country to which the person concerned moves. Combating the sexual exploitation of children and child pornography became a priority for the EU in 2003 when legislation was adopted establishing a minimum common approach to these criminal offences, covering the type of penalty and the prohibitions imposed. One of the provisions was to impose a temporary or permanent ban on child sex offenders from taking a job involving supervision of children. With this initiative from Belgium at the time of the Fourniret affair (EUROPE 9139), the Council is now considering an EU decision to ensure that a prohibition on working with children imposed by the national judicial authorities of one Member State will be enforced by any Member State where the individual might reside. This new legal rule, based on strict compliance with the mutual recognition principle, should help to avoid cases such as that of a paedophile convicted in France who later committed a similar crime in Belgium. An important aspect of the new EU law will be to oblige national authorities to include information on penalties for sex offences against children in that part of criminal records which can be consulted by another Member State on request. MEPs of the LIBE committee generally give their support to the proposal, although they recommend amendments to improve its wording and to strengthen some of the definitions in the legislative text. One of the key changes approved by MEPs in the committee would oblige Member States also to include in their criminal records any related prohibition imposed by non-EU countries. The vote on the report is to take place during the next plenary session in April.