Parliament wants illegal site operators to have right of appeal.
Members of the European Parliament’s civil liberties committee watered down plans on Monday (14 February) to introduce EU-wide mandatory blocking of websites containing child pornography.
The changes the committee made to the European Commission’s draft, which aims to toughen EU rules on the sexual abuse and exploitation of children on the internet, could hamper the ability of member states to block access to websites carrying such content.
MEPs on the committee endorsed a compromise which calls on member states to remove content containing child pornography or abuse at source, by the internet service providers. The compromise removed the Commission’s call for mandatory blocking of sites. They said sites should only be blocked if there are delays in removing abusive content.
The compromise also added a call for extra safeguards to protect internet freedom rights. MEPs added that national measures preventing access “must be set by transparent procedures and provide adequate safeguards” to ensure that the restrictions are proportionate.
The committee said that content providers and users have to be informed of the reason for the restrictions and have to have a right to legally appeal against the measures. The compromise was supported by the centre-right European People’s Party group, the Socialists and Democrats group, the Liberals and the Greens.
Cecilia Malmström, the European commissioner for home affairs, had expressed concern over the compromise proposal before Monday’s vote.She said the safeguards and removal of mandatory blocking would make it more difficult for member states to combat the exploitation of children online.
She said the best way to combat abusive content was to take the sites off the internet, but said that deleting the sites “at source” was made more difficult when servers are located outside the EU.
Claude Moraes, a centre-left MEP from the UK, said the EU directive had to strike a balance between internet freedoms and making sure that authorities could deal effectively with abusive content.
The draft directive, which updates rules from 2004, would also introduce tougher penalties for those abusing or exploiting minors online. The proposal sets minimum penalties for 22 criminal offences.
Monday’s vote in committee is to be used as the Parliament’s position going into final negotiations with member states in March. Parliament officials say they hope to get a final agreement with the Council of Ministers by June.
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