On 22 June, the European Parliament and Council reached a political agreement on the Directive updating the criminal law rules on child sexual abuse and sexual exploitation. This marks a major milestone in the protection of children, especially as worrying trends such as the proliferation of AI-generated child sexual abuse material make the agreement all the more timely.
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:
- Fist EU-wide notion of consent: The text introduces a definition of non-consensual sexual acts, ensuring full protection for children who have reached the age of sexual consent. Consent must be freely given, voluntary, and may be withdrawn at any time before or during the act. The silence or passivity of the victim can never be treated as consent.
- New offences addressing technological developments: The new rules criminalise emerging forms of child sexual abuse facilitated by technology, such as the production and sharing of AI-generated material and deepfakes, the livestreaming of child sexual abuse, sexual extortion, instruction manuals for offenders, and AI systems designed or adapted specifically to produce child sexual abuse material. Protection from grooming to obtain sexual abuse material is extended to children who have reached the age of sexual consent, in case of coercion or threats, or where the offender pretends to be a peer.
Extended statutes of limitations: The new rules give victims more time to report child sexual abuse and exploitation to the authorities and seek justice, recognising that many victims disclose the abuse only years later. For the most serious offences, such rape, the limitation period will extend until the victim reaches the age of 50. For other serious offences covered by the Directive, it will extend until the victim is between 33 and 38 years old.
Reinforced rules on prevention: The text introduces mandatory criminal records checks for professional and organised voluntary activities requiring direct and regular contact with children. It also requires professionals to report cases where a child is in serious and imminent danger and strengthens child protection measures in schools, sports clubs, and religious, healthcare, and social care settings.
- Stronger support for victims: The new rules ensure that child victims have access to targeted, age-appropriate support, including healthcare, helplines and referral centres. They also strengthen victims’ right to claim full compensation for the harm they have suffered.
The digital threat of child sexual abuse has evolved significantly over the past years. The current EU rules in this area were agreed in 2011, and had to be adapted to address the upheaval in the digital world that took place since. Reports of child sexual abuse online have 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.
This 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.
Next steps
This new Directive must 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.
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