April 2024
Research themes:
Legal opinion commissioned by DOT Europe. This opinion presents the views of the authors and does not necessarily represent the position of DOT Europe or of its members.
Co-authored with Jan Bednarski and Michał Czarnuch from the Rymarz Zdort Maruta law firm
This opinion analyses the Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) Regulation Proposal’s implications for interpersonal communications services (ICS), focusing on alignment with the Charter of Fundamental Rights and overall effectiveness. Our analysis covers both the European Commission’s initial Proposal and the LIBE Report, and seeks to provide an analysis how to enhance the Proposal’s efficacy by enabling proactive CSA prevention and combating by ICS providers, while ensuring conformity with the Charter.
We conclude that the CSA Proposal can be significantly improved to enable proactive CSA prevention and combating by ICS providers while ensuring conformity with the Charter.
Our key recommendations include introducing enhanced risk mitigation measures and adopting a layered approach. The layered approach would allow for a proportionate gradation of intrusiveness and safeguards. With appropriate conditions, voluntary CSA detection could be a part of this solution.
We also propose an alternative that would address only some concerns: to grant ICS providers a right to request the initiation of mandatory detection orders procedures.
These solutions aim to leverage the unique capabilities of ICS providers and provide effective alternatives to mandatory detection orders, ultimately strengthening the Proposal’s prevention framework and compatibility with fundamental rights.