On 6 February 2024, under the EU strategy for a more effective fight against child sexual abuse, the Commission submitted a proposal for a revision of the Combating child sexual abuse Directive (Directive 2011/93/EU).

The proposal is the last in a series of four. Two new pieces of legislation, put forward under the strategy, have already been adopted during the past legislative term: a regulation aimed at strengthening Europol's mandate in the fight against child sexual abuse online, and an interim regulation  allowing online communication service providers to continue to detect and report child sexual abuse material on a voluntary basis, in derogation from rules set out in the ePrivacy Directive. A 2022 proposal on permanent rules which would oblige providers to detect, report and remove child sexual abuse material on their services, and envisage the creation of a EU centre to counter and prevent child sexual abuse, is still pending. For more information, please refer to the concerning carriages in the same train.

In preparation of a possible review, in 2021, the Commission launched a REFIT initiative to assess the implementation of Directive 2011/93/EU and identify legislative gaps, best practice and priority actions at EU level. Citizens and stakeholders were asked to provide their views and input during the public consultation period from 20 April 2022 to 13 July 2022. 

The revision of the directive was subsequently included as key initiative in the Commission Work Programme 2023 and in the list of joint legislative priorities for 2023-2024, agreed upon by the Parliament, the Council and the Commission. 

The revised rules expand the definitions of offences to include new forms of online child sexual abuse, and introduce higher penalties and more specific requirements for prevention and assistance to victims. Moreover, they set minimum statutes of limitations to effectively allow the victim to seek justice.

The subsidiarity deadline for national parliaments to submit their reasoned opinions was 28 May 2024. 22 national chambers had examined the proposal and the French Senate was the only chamber to issue a reasoned opinion.

On 10 July 2024, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) adopted an opinion on the proposed revision of Directive 2011/93, in which it expressed its support for the proposal's objective to ensure that all forms of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children, including those enabled or facilitated by technological developments, are criminalised. 

In the Council, the proposal was dealt with in the Working Party on Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters (COPEN) and at the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 14 June 2024. To support the Council expert level discussions ministers gave guidance to the future work at expert level on two matters: firstly the limitation period for child sexual abuse offences and if they should require specific consideration to ensure that they can be prosecuted also a relatively long time after the offence was committed and secondly how to address AI-generated child sexual abuse material. 

Outgoing Commissioner Ylva Johansson presented the Commission proposal on 4 September 2024 in the newly established LIBE committee, where the proposal was further discussed with rapporteur Lenaers and members of the various groups in the committee. The new Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner, leads the further work on this file in the Von der Leyen II Commission,.

The proposal was discussed again at the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 13 December 2024, where the ministers agreed a common member states position, opening the way to inter-institutional negotiations on the file.

In Parliament, the file was assigned to the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), with the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) as associated committee under Rule 57. Jeroen Lenaers (EPP, Netherlands) was appointed as rapporteur for LIBE. Following the European elections from June 2024 and the transfer of the file to the next legislative term, he was reappointed on 24 September 2024. CULT and FEMM were appointed committees for opinion. In their positions, CULT highlighted the importance of continuously addressing emerging challenges, especially in the online environment, while FEMM suggests a stronger focus on the gender dimension, as the vast majority of child victims of sexual abuse are girls. 

The draft report was presented in the LIBE Committee on 18 April 2025 and was adopted with unanimity on 13 May. On 17 June 2025, the Plenary Session debated and voted on the proposed amendments. It adopted with a vast majority 185 amendments to the legislative draft and referred the matter back to the Committee for inter-institutional negotiations.

The amendments adopted by the Parliament aim to strengthen the protection of children, including child victim support. They raise the maximum penalties for certain sexual abuse offences, remove the limitation period for crimes under the new law, propose a new definition of consent specifically for children who are above the age of sexual consent and criminalise the use of artificial intelligence designed specifically for the purpose of sexual abuse of children.

See also our files ‘EU Strategy for a more effective fight against child sexual abuse’; 'e-Privacy Directive: Derogation to combat child sexual abuse online'; 'Combating child sexual abuse online: new legislation" and 'Strengthening of Europol's mandate' in the same train.

References:

• EP Legislative Observatory, Procedure file on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child sexual abuse material, Recast, 2024/0035(COD)
• European Commission, Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and the Council on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child sexual abuse material and replacing Council Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA (recast), COM/2024/60, 6 February 2024
• Directive 2011/93/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2011 on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA
• European Commission, REFIT initiative - Combating child sexual abuse – review of EU rules, September 2021
• European Commission, State of the Union 2022, Letter of Intent, 14 September 2022
• European Commission, Commission Work Programme 2023 and annexes, 18 October2022
• European Commission, January infringements package: key decisions, 26 January 2023
• European Commission, February infringements package: key decisions, 15 February 2023
• European Commission, Mission letter to Magnus Brunner, Commissioner-designate for Internal Affairs and Migration, 17 September 2024
• Council, Combatting child sexual abuse: Council adopts position on strengthened EU criminal law, Press release, 13 December 2024

Further reading:

• European Parliament, EPRS,  Combating child sexual abuse: Revising Directive (2011/93/EU) – recast, Legislative briefing, 23 July 2024
• European Parliament, EPRS, Combating child sexual abuse, Pre-legislative briefing, 24 January 2024
• European Parliament, EPRS, Impact appraisal, Revision of Directive 2011/93/EU on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography, Briefing, 20 February 2024
• European Parliament, EPRS, Cyberbullying among young people: Laws and policies in selected Member States, Briefing, 13 June 2024
• European Parliament, EPRS, Combating child sexual abuse online, Legislative briefing, 12 June 2023
• European Parliament, EPRS, European Implementation Assessment, Combating sexual abuse of children Directive 2011/93/EU, Study, April 2017.

Related files in the same train:

• Legislative train on the EU Strategy for a more effective fight against child sexual abuse for the period 2020-2025.
• Legislative train on the Proposal for a Regulation on a temporary derogation from certain provisions of the e-Privacy Directive for the purpose of combating child sexual abuse online (e-Privacy Directive: Derogation to combat child sexual abuse)
• Legislative train on New legislation to fight child sexual abuse online (Combating child sexual abuse online)
• Legislative train on the strengthening of Europol's mandate

Author: Ionel Zamfir, Members' Research Service, legislative-train@europarl.europa.eu