The European Parliament supports the extension until August 2027 of the derogation that allows the voluntary detection of online sexual abuse of children.
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The European Parliament has approved the extension until August 3, 2027, of the derogation from the ePrivacy directive that allows online service providers to voluntarily detect child sexual abuse material. The vote maintains the current measures, which were set to expire on April 3, 2026, until a permanent legislative framework is agreed upon, but MEPs demand that these measures remain proportionate, targeted, and not apply to end-to-end encrypted communications.
The European Parliament supported the extension until August 3, 2027, of the temporary derogation from the ePrivacy directive that allows for the voluntary detection of online child sexual abuse materials, in a vote of 458 in favor, 103 against, and 63 abstentions. The current measures, which were set to expire on April 3, 2026, are thus maintained in force to allow for an agreement on the permanent legal framework.
In short
The European Parliament has approved the extension of the temporary derogation until August 3, 2027.
The derogation allows for the voluntary online detection of child sexual abuse materials.
MEPs demand that the measures remain proportionate, targeted, and limited to what is necessary.
The Parliament states that these measures should not apply to end-to-end encrypted communications and should not allow for the scanning of traffic data together with content data.
The file is treated as an interim solution until the adoption of the permanent legislative framework.
The plenary vote confirms the Parliament's support for the temporary maintenance of an exception to the confidentiality rules of communications, in a file where European institutions are trying to avoid a legal vacuum before the completion of negotiations on the permanent law. The Parliament supports the extension of the derogation but at the same time seeks to draw clear limits regarding the proportionality of the intervention and the protection of fundamental rights.
According to the adopted position, voluntary measures must remain proportionate and targeted and should not apply to end-to-end encrypted communications. MEPs also state that scanning of traffic data together with content data should not be allowed. This wording establishes one of the central political lines of the Parliament in the file: the extension of the temporary instrument is accepted, but without extending it to a generalized surveillance of communications.
The Parliament also calls for the technology used for the voluntary detection of child sexual abuse materials to be limited to materials already identified as such or reported as potential CSAM by a user, a trusted notifier, or an organization. Additionally, the measures should target specific users or groups of users reasonably suspected of having links to such materials. The wording explicitly narrows the scope of the derogation and shifts the focus from extensive scanning to targeted interventions.
Rapporteur Birgit Sippel framed the vote in the context of balancing child protection and fundamental rights. After the vote, she stated: "We have a responsibility to address the horrific crime of child sexual abuse while simultaneously protecting the fundamental rights of all."
She described the interim derogation, which she supports, as "a strictly limited temporary tool that allows providers to continue voluntary detection measures under specific conditions." At the same time, she insisted that this extension "must respect end-to-end encryption." According to her, limiting the scope of the extension to previously identified and hashed child sexual abuse materials and materials reported by notifiers is "both necessary and justified for a proportional framework that can withstand judicial scrutiny and provide lasting protection for children."
Procedurally, the Parliament states that it is now ready for negotiations with the Council regarding the extension of the derogation. However, the file also has a broader dimension: the voluntary derogation had already been extended in 2024, and the Parliament claims it has been ready for negotiations on the permanent framework since November 2023. After the Council adopted its position in November 2025, discussions on the permanent law are ongoing. The extension until August 2027 is thus presented as a mechanism for legislative continuity, not as a definitive solution.
The file combines two major political and legal stakes. On one hand, European institutions are trying to maintain the ability of providers to voluntarily detect online child sexual abuse materials. On the other hand, the Parliament is trying to limit this ability so that it remains compatible with the requirements of proportionality and the protection of private communications. The fact that MEPs explicitly exclude end-to-end encrypted communications and cumulative scanning of traffic and content data shows that the dispute regarding the architecture of the future permanent framework remains a sensitive one.
The extension until August 3, 2027, also has a clear institutional function: avoiding the expiration of the temporary instrument before the negotiations on the permanent legislation are completed. In this sense, the Parliament's vote does not close the file but keeps an interim solution open until co-legislators agree on the final form of the European framework for the prevention and combating of online child sexual abuse.
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