The EU Council and European Parliament have reached a provisional deal on updating the EU’s criminal law rules on child sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children.
The directive addresses new challenges, improves investigation and prosecution, strengthens prevention and assistance to victims and promotes better coordination in the fight against child sexual abuse. The key points of the new common rules are:
- Updated definitions: this includes a first EU-wide definition of non-consensual sexual acts, also extending protection to children who remain silent. There is also a clear exemption from criminalisation for hotlines where victims call for help.
- New offences reflecting modern realities: the new rules criminalise the use of technology to generate child sexual abuse images and videos, deepfakes and other material, the livestreaming of child sexual abuse, sexual extortion, and AI systems to produce child sexual abuse material. Protection from grooming is extended to children who have reached the age of sexual consent, in certain situations such as when they are threatened or coerced.
- Reinforced rules on prevention: with mandatory criminal records checks for professional and organised voluntary activities requiring direct and regular contact with children, and a reporting obligation for such professionals, when the child is in serious and imminent danger.
- Stronger support for victims: to ensure they receive the necessary targeted and age-appropriate support for child victims (healthcare, helplines, referral centres), and right to claim full compensation. The statute of limitations is also extended, allowing victims the time needed to seek justice.
The digital threat of child sexual abuse has evolved significantly over the past years, says the Commission. Current EU rules in this area were agreed in 2011, and had to be adapted to address the revolution in the digital world that took place since. Reports of child sexual abuse online increased from one million in 2010 to more than 23 million in 2025. These reports contained 61.8 million files, including 29.4 million images and 26.3 million videos. Data also show an exponential increase of online solicitation of children (grooming), with the number of reports increasing by more than 30 times in the last 5 years.
The directive represents a significant achievement. However, it will only be effective if we are able to identify offenders. Today, up to 80% of criminal investigations into child sexual abuse are launched because of reports of images and videos of such abuse from online service providers. It is therefore essential that the co-legislators urgently reach an agreement on rules for such reports that effectively prevent and combat child sexual abuse online.
The new directive now need to be formally adopted by the European Parliament and the Council. Once adopted, it will amend the existing legislation (Council Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA) and enter into force on the twentieth day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
