EU ministers have approved a temporary EU regulation allowing online platforms to resume voluntarily detecting and removing child sexual abuse material.
The decision gives final approval to rules that let service providers scan for and report child sexual abuse material — often referred to as CSAM — despite restrictions in the EU’s electronic communications privacy framework, the Council of the EU announced Thursday night.
The measure reinstates an interim “derogation”, meaning a time-limited exemption from data protection rules for electronic communications, enabling providers to detect, report and remove such material.
It follows the expiry of a previous temporary measure on 3 April 2026, which the Council said created a legal gap that needed to be addressed quickly.
Irish Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan said the European Parliament had backed the approach earlier this month and the Council’s approval would allow companies to restart voluntary efforts to tackle the spread of child sexual abuse material online.
How long it will last
The reinstated rules will apply until 3 April 2028, the Council said.
They are intended to apply while the Council and the European Parliament negotiate a longer-term EU law on preventing and combating online child sexual abuse.
The Council said it accepted amendments made by the European Parliament because of the regulation’s specific purpose and limited duration.
Those changes exclude “number-independent interpersonal communications” — services such as messaging apps that do not rely on telephone numbers — from the scope of the interim regulation where end-to-end encryption is, has been or will be applied.
The interim regulation is due to be published in the EU Official Journal in the coming days and will enter into force three days later.
