Combating child sexual abuse: EU Parliament discusses penalties

Today, Wednesday, the Committee on Internal Affairs of the newly elected European Parliament (LIBE) did not formally discuss the much-discussed "chat control", but rather adjustments and harmonization, including in criminal law, for which the member states are responsible. These were initiated by the EU Commission in parallel with the planned regulation to combat depictions of sexual abuse (Child Sexual Abuse Regulation - CSA Regulation).

"These two instruments complement and depend on each other," outgoing EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson explained, emphasizing the importance of the project: Europe is the main storage location for depictions of child sexual abuse.

Rules on criminal liability for possession are to be harmonized

Above all, the limitation periods are to be significantly increased: 20 years for offenses with a minimum prison sentence of three years, 25 years with a minimum sentence of five years, 30 years from the age of majority for offenses with a minimum prison sentence of eight years. This is intended to take account of the long-term trauma suffered by victims. There are currently no special regulations in many member states, while in others the regulations already largely correspond to the current proposal.

The minimum sentences are generally only reached through active perpetration; even today, possession offenses are generally significantly lower. The Member States should be expressly free to decide how they want to deal with images that minors voluntarily make available to each other under criminal law. An important and less controversial provision concerns the victims of sexual abuse: in the future, the Member States will have to provide better support, care and financial compensation to the victims.

The EU Commissioner for Home Affairs said that this complementary regulation on the agenda today was not about internet service providers. However, the EU Commission's proposal contains, among other things, a new Article 8, with which "the intentional operation or management of an information society service designed to commit" criminal offenses in the area of the creation, dissemination or initiation of depictions of sexual abuse of minors is to be harmonized throughout Europe with a penalty of at least one year.

Council continues discussions

With this proposal, Johansson expects that the Member States, which have not yet been able to agree on a common position on the CSA Regulation, will reach an agreement quickly; unlike with the CSAM Regulation, which became known as "chat control". Johansson told the LIBE Committee on Wednesday afternoon: "I have not presented a proposal for mass surveillance". She was thus defending herself after accusations from the ranks of the nationalist Sweden Democrats, who otherwise spoke out in favor of national regulations for the forced castration of offenders.

For Johansson, it is important to learn from other countries, such as Canada, Australia and the USA – and how they deal with such problems. "We don't know what works," she says, wanting to be honest. But it is imperative to "do something about it".

Meanwhile, on Wednesday morning, the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Member States (Coreper) discussed a proposal by the Hungarian Council Presidency to limit the obligation to automatically search messenger services for content to hash values of images of sexual abuse that have already been recorded. However, even this new proposal, with which the Hungarians wanted to dispel concerns of a blocking minority in the Council, does not yet appear to be acceptable to all EU member states. If the Council reaches an agreement, the trilogue could soon follow, in which the Parliament and Council explore possible compromises with the Commission - the Parliament had already taken a clear position, but majorities have changed since the European elections.

(anw)