Why the EU Centre to prevent and combat child sexual abuse?Authorities in the EU rely mainly on the US to receive reports of child sexual abuse online in the EU. On the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) and on US legislation which requires service providers to report such content to NCMEC, which then forward EU-related reports to law enforcement authorities in the EU for action. At the moment, there is no central entity in the EU that service providers can send their reports to. As a result, reports of abuse in the EU are sent to the US and then back to EU law enforcement agencies.The EU centre aims to simplify this process. The EU centre will receive the reports of child sexual abuse online, make sure that they are not false positives and distribute them to national law enforcement agencies in Member States. This will reduce the amount of time that law enforcement spend on filtering reports that are not actionable. The process of detecting, reporting and removing online child sexual abuse material needs to be more transparentCurrently, there is limited oversight of the voluntary efforts to detect child sexual abuse online beyond the provisions of this interim regulation.The EU centre will collect data for transparency reports, provide clear information about the use of tools, and support audits of data and processes. The EU centre will maintain a database of indicators of known child sexual abuse material, new material and grooming to help companies detect child abuse in their systems in compliance with EU rules. Cooperation between online service providers, civil society organisations, and public authorities needs to improveThe EU centre will serve as a facilitator, making the communication between service providers and EU countries more efficient. EU countries need support in preventing child sexual abuse and assisting victimsPreventing child sexual abuse is essential to keep children safe. Governments and companies across the EU and beyond need to cooperate efficiently to improve prevention.Supporting this cooperation is a key task of the EU centre to prevent and combat child sexual abuse, included under the Proposal for a regulation.The EU centre will support EU countries with comprehensive, tested and effective prevention measures. These prevention measures aim to reduce the likelihood of children becoming victims and of predators (re)offending.The centre will also be a hub for connecting, developing and sharing knowledge, developing state-of-the-art research on detection and prevention, and advising national and EU policymakers on necessary action. As set out in the EU Strategy for a more effective fight against child sexual abuse, the EU centre will build up the prevention network. The network will be composed of experts and practitioners who will identify effective prevention measures to decrease the prevalence of child sexual abuse in the EU.When it comes to victim support, the EU centre will work closely with national authorities and global experts to ensure that victims receive support, as required by the Child Sexual Abuse Directive and the Victims’ Rights Directive.It will also support victims in removing their images and videos to protect their privacy.
