The European Parliament accepts the voluntary detection of online sexual abuse of children, but excludes encrypted communications.

The European Parliament has adopted amendments to the temporary derogation from ePrivacy rules, which allows electronic communications service providers to voluntarily detect child sexual abuse material and online grooming attempts. MEPs want end-to-end encrypted messages to be excluded from the scope of the law.

The European Parliament supports the return of a temporary derogation from ePrivacy rules to combat online child sexual abuse, but wants end-to-end encrypted messages to be excluded. The text allows electronic communications service providers to voluntarily detect child sexual abuse material and grooming attempts, to remove content, and to report it to the authorities.

In short

The European Parliament has adopted amendments to the temporary derogation from ePrivacy rules.

The derogation allows for the voluntary detection of online child sexual abuse materials.

MEPs want to exclude communications protected by end-to-end encryption.

The Parliament's position now goes to the Council, which has three months to accept or reject the amendments.

If there is no agreement, the Parliament and the Council will enter into conciliation.

The vote concerns a derogation from ePrivacy rules, that is, from European norms that protect the confidentiality of electronic communications. Without this derogation, online service providers cannot use the same voluntary tools to detect child sexual abuse materials in private communications, even if the purpose is to remove and report illegal content.

The Council's position would have reinstated an expired derogation, allowing providers to voluntarily detect child sexual abuse materials and grooming on their own services. The Parliament did not accept the text without modifications and introduced an important limitation: communications that are subject to, have been subject to, or will be subject to end-to-end encryption must be excluded from the scope of the law.

End-to-end encryption means that messages can only be read by the sender and recipient, not by the service provider. For supporters of this exclusion, the issue is protecting the security and confidentiality of private communications. For authorities demanding stronger tools to combat abuse, the stake is the ability to identify illegal materials and grooming contacts before victims are exposed to further abuse.

The procedure has been difficult as the Parliament is in its second reading. To reject or modify the Council's position, an absolute majority was needed, currently 360 MEPs. In an initial vote, a simple majority supported the rejection of the Council's position, with 314 votes in favor, 276 against, and 17 abstentions, but the number did not reach the necessary threshold.

After the adoption of the amendments, there was no majority to reject the Parliament's position as thus modified. The vote was 276 in favor of rejection, 286 against, and 30 abstentions. The second reading is thus closed, and the amended text will be sent to the Council.

The Council now has three months to approve or reject the Parliament's amendments. If it does not accept all the changes, the two institutions will enter into conciliation, the final stage in which the Parliament and the Council try to reach a common text.

The derogation is designed as a temporary measure to avoid a legal vacuum until a permanent regime for combating online child sexual abuse is adopted. The previous interim law expired on April 3, 2026, after the Parliament rejected the Commission's proposal for an extension and closed the first reading.

Before that time, MEPs had already requested a more limited derogation. The Parliament had voted for narrowing the scope of detection measures and for introducing judicial approval. However, negotiations with the Council did not lead to an agreement.

The permanent file for combating online child sexual abuse continues in parallel. According to the Parliament, most aspects of the permanent law were agreed under the Cypriot presidency of the Council, in the first half of 2026, but certain points still need to be discussed.

Separately, the Parliament and the Council have already reached an agreement to update a directive on combating child sexual abuse. This directive concerns the criminal framework and victim protection, while the ePrivacy derogation addresses the ability of online service providers to voluntarily detect and report illegal content in their communications.

For users, the main difference is between voluntary detection on services that fall under the derogation and the protection of end-to-end encrypted communications. The Parliament seeks to maintain the possibility of reporting child sexual abuse materials, but without including encrypted messages in this temporary derogation.

For children and victims, the file remains linked to the speed with which abusive content is identified, removed, and reported. For online services, the stake is legal clarity: what they can do voluntarily, under what conditions, and on what types of communications, until the EU adopts the permanent framework.

The European Parliament adopted the amendments on Thursday, in plenary. The Parliament's position will be sent to the Council, which has three months to decide whether to accept the changes or enter into conciliation with the Parliament.

https://2eu.brussels/ro/news/parlamentul-european-accepta-detectarea-voluntara-a-abuzurilor-sexuale-asupra-copiilor-online-dar-exclude-comunicatiile-criptate