European Parliament extends Interim Regulation to tackle child sexual abuse

Article summary

The European Parliament has agreed to extend exemptions (the Interim Regulation) to provisions of Directive 2002/58/EC (the e-Privacy Directive) in order to allow providers of certain number-independent interpersonal communication services to continue the voluntary detection and reporting of child sexual abuse on their services, as well as to continue removing any child sexual abuse material. The European Commission had made a proposition for this purpose in December 2023 as the Interim Regulation was due to expire on 3 August 2024. With the proposal, it will continue beyond 4 August 2024 up to 3 April 2026 in order to bridge the period between the Interim Regulation expiring and a new, long-term legislation to tackle child sexual abuse online, proposed by the Commission in May 2022, being approved. The provisional agreement on the derogation will now have to be formally adopted by the Council of the EU before it can become law.