Answer given by Mrs Kroes on behalf of the Commission

17.1.2011

The Commission provided funding from the Safer Internet programme to the Circamp project for the period 1.11.2008 to 31.10.2010.

The overall aim of this project was to stimulate organised and extensive cross-border exchange of best practice between law enforcement agencies in the fight against production, online distribution and access to child sexual abuse material. In particular, it aimed to share the use of a filtering system. In each country where the tool is implemented, the list of websites hosting child abuse images is drawn up by national police forces in accordance with the requirements of national law.

The Circamp project did not promote a specific level of blocking; this is decided by the country in question, at domain level in some countries, in others a combination of domain and URL blocking. The project did not have as its objective to put in place a general obligation to monitor, nor have companies felt obliged to put any such system in place as a result of the work of the project. The Commission is not responsible for the Circamp Website and so it would be inappropriate to comment on its contents.

The Commission has tabled on 29 March a proposal for a directive on combating the sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of children and child pornography. Child pornography is first and foremost the depiction of an awful crime against a child, and dissemination of child abuse images on the Internet is a gross violation of the child's privacy. Among a number of measures to combat and disrupt it, the Commission has proposed that Member States should, subject to appropriate legal safeguards, take measures to obtain the blocking of access by Internet users in their territory to web pages containing child pornography. The choice of technical tools to meet this obligation remains with Member States.

OJ C 265 E, 09/09/2011