The undersigned organisations have been participating, from different angles, in the discussions surrounding the proposal laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse. All signatories share the same goal, which is to create and maintain a safe online environment for children, to detect and remove child sexual abuse (CSA) content online, and to ensure the investigation of offenders, in a manner that is compatible with privacy and human rights.
Whereas the Council and the European Parliament announced very ambitious timelines at the beginning of the discussions to ensure the proposal would be in force by the end of the legislative mandate, we are concerned about the lack of progress in the negotiations. The absence of a temporary framework, such as the temporary ePrivacy Derogation, would create a legal gap and would risk the ability for interpersonal communications service (ICS) providers to continue carrying out selected detection, reporting and removal work against CSA online.
Both NGOs and relevant ICS providers therefore welcome the European Commission’s proposal to extend the temporary ePrivacy Derogation4 and the recently approved negotiating mandate of the Council, which calls for an extension of the derogation until August 2027. Should a permanent solution not be in place before the end of the mandate, and given that the expiration of the ePrivacy derogation on 3 August 2024 is fast approaching, signatories agree that an extension of at least two years of the temporary framework, or until the new permanent framework is in force, is necessary.
Proactive work against CSA has proven to be effective over the past decade. We therefore ask the European Parliament to support the Commission and the Council on this initiative and call on co-legislators to swiftly adopt the extension of the temporary ePrivacy derogation.
However, this extension should only be considered as a transitory solution, as the core focus is to agree on a long-term framework, and promptly adopt the CSA Regulation. To ensure legal certainty, measures to process data need to be introduced in the CSA Regulation, in order for ICS providers to continue a proactive and transparent mitigation of CSA risks on their services.
All signatories remain committed to working towards legislation which stands the test of time and that is in the best interest of children. We stand ready to provide input in the coming weeks and months to achieve this goal.
Signatories (in alphabetical order):
- 5Rights Foundation – 373653640889-82
- Agarrados à Net – Registered in Portugal under PT198348967
- ARSIS – Association for the Social Support of Youth – Registered in Greece under 090193521
- Asociația Eliberare – 377339245648-75
- Association Novi Put – Registered in Bosnia & Herzegovina under 4227677040008
- Brave Movement – 240739046913-05
- Canadian Centre for Child Protection – Registered in Canada under 106913627RR0001
- Center for Missing and Exploited Children (Centar za nestalu i zlostavljanu decu)
- COFACE – Families Europe – 93283396780-85
- Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA Europe) – 281864052407-46
- CZ.NIC (Czech Internet Association) – Registered in the Czech Republic under 67985726
- Defence for Children International Nederland – ECPAT Nederland – 553136948205-97
- Developers Alliance – 135037514504-30
- Digital Poland Association (Związek Cyfrowa Polska) – Registered in Poland under 5222802518
- DOT Europe – 53905947933-43
- ECPAT Albania (CRCA) – under the ECPAT International umbrella: 652884041904-28
- ECPAT Austria – under the ECPAT International umbrella: 652884041904-28
- ECPAT Belgium – under the ECPAT International umbrella: 652884041904-28
- ECPAT France – under the ECPAT International umbrella: 652884041904-28
- ECPAT International – 652884041904-28
- ECPAT Luxembourg – Registered in Luxembourg under F4840
- ECPAT Norway – under the ECPAT International umbrella: 652884041904-28
- ECPAT Sweden – under the ECPAT International umbrella: 652884041904-28
- Eurochild – 79360311166-84
- EuroISPA (European Internet Services Providers Association) – 54437813115-56
- FAPMI – ECPAT Spain (Federación de Asociaciones para la Prevención del Maltrato Infantil) – registered in Spain under G79986493
- FICE Croatia – Registered in Croatia under 21012267
- FiCom (Finnish Federation for Communications and Teleinformatics) – 29762326480-22
- Fundacja Dajemy Dzieciom Siłę (Empowering Children Foundation) – Registered in Poland under 0000204426
- GSMA – 30988577529-37
- Hintalovon Child Rights Foundation – ECPAT Hungary – Registered in Hungary under 01-01-0012255
- “Hope for Children” – CRC Policy Center – 483924815151-12
- IAC – Instituto de Apoio à Criança – Registered in Portugal under 501377662
- ICMEC – International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children Singapore
- Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) – 144739515066-23ISPA Austria (Internet Service Providers Austria) – 56028372438-43
- ISPA Belgium – under the EuroISPA umbrella – 54437813115-56
- ITI – The Information Technology Industry Council – 061601915428-87
- Marie Collins Foundation – registered in Ireland under 7657115
- Missing Children Europe – 11823899666-63
- Miúdos Seguros Na Net – Registered in Portugal under PT517009897
- Network for Children’s Rights (NCR) (Δίκτυο για τα Δικαιώματα του Παιδιού) – Registered in Greece under 25375
- Pomoc Deci – Registered in Serbia under 17541927
- Safe Online
- Save the Children Europe – 697362735627-20
- Stiftung Digitale Chancen – 948042627375-19
- Stop Sexting – Registered in Ukraine under 45064310
- Suojellaan Lapsia, Protect Children ry – Registered in Finland under Y3101989-8
- Terre des Hommes Netherlands – 030107317058-64
- The Pancyprian Coordinating Committee for the Protection and Welfare of Children
- The Smile of the Child – 66055258617-28
- Video Games Europe – 20586492362-11
- WeProtect Global Alliance – 834646340101-36
For more information please contact:
Pierantonio Rizzo
Director, EU Affairs, GSMA
Pierantonio Rizzo leads the public policy activities on Digital Economy and Society matters at the GSMA Europe. In his role of Director EU Affairs, Pierantonio is responsible for Platform economy, Data, Artificial Intelligence, Consumer policy and Disinformation. He also contributes to the work of the European Commission’ stakeholders expert group on the REFIT of Consumer law.
Prior to joining the GSMA in 2017, Pierantonio worked at the European Parliament for an Italian MEP, where he followed the activities of IMCO and AFET Committees. He began his career as policy analyst at Rohde Public Policy, a public affairs consultancy firm.
Pierantonio holds a Masters of European Affairs from the Catholic University of Paris and a LLM from the University of Bologna, during which he had an exchange program with the Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas. Pierantonio speaks Italian, English, French and is currently learning Spanish.