The Commission welcomes the political agreement on criminal law provisions against the sexual abuse of children

The Commission welcomes the political agreement reached yesterday, 22 June 2026, with the European Parliament and the Council on the Directive updating criminal law provisions on the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children. Worrying trends such as the proliferation of child abuse material generated by artificial intelligence (AI) make today’s agreement all the more timely.

This Directive addresses new challenges, improves investigation and prosecution, strengthens prevention and support for victims, and promotes better coordination in the fight against the sexual abuse of children. The key points of the new common rules are:

• Updated definitions: This includes the first EU-wide definition of non-consensual sexual acts, which also extends protection to children who remain silent. There is also a clear exemption from criminalisation for helplines where victims seek help.
• New offences reflecting modern realities: The new rules criminalise the use of technology to generate images and videos of child sexual abuse, deepfakes and other material; the live streaming of child sexual abuse; sexual extortion; and the use of AI systems to produce child sexual abuse material. Protection against grooming is extended to children who have reached the age of sexual consent, in certain situations, such as when they are threatened or coerced.
• Strengthened prevention measures: Mandatory criminal record checks for professional and organised voluntary activities involving direct and regular contact with children, and a duty for such professionals to report cases where a child is at serious and imminent risk.
• Greater support for victims: Ensuring that child victims receive the specific, age-appropriate support they need (healthcare, helplines, referral centres) and the right to claim full compensation. The limitation period is also extended, allowing victims the time they need to seek justice.

The digital threat of child sexual abuse has evolved significantly in recent years. Current EU rules in this area were agreed in 2011 and have had to be adapted to address the digital revolution that has taken place since then. Reports of online child sexual abuse rose from one million in 2010 to over 23 million in 2025. These reports contained 61.8 million files, including 29.4 million images and 26.3 million videos. The data also shows an exponential increase in online grooming of children, with the number of reports rising more than 30 – fold over the last five years.

This Directive represents a significant achievement. However, it will only be effective if we are able to identify the offenders. Today, up to 80 per cent of criminal investigations into child sexual abuse are initiated as a result 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 the rules governing such reports, so as to effectively prevent and combat the sexual abuse of children 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 will enter into force twenty days after its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

 

Background

The Commission presented a proposal to update the criminal law provisions on the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children in 2024. These revised provisions now broaden the definitions of the offences and introduce higher penalties and more specific requirements for prevention and victim support. They complement the proposal for a Regulation that the Commission presented in 2022, which sets out obligations for internet companies to detect, report and remove child sexual abuse material from their services.

Whilst the Directive strengthens legal certainty through harmonised criminal law frameworks, the Regulation sets out operational obligations for platforms, creating a two-tier system to close protection gaps. Even with the new criminal law provisions agreed, given that the provisional Regulation enabling the detection of child sexual abuse online expired on 3 April and there is still no agreed long-term framework in place, children remain less protected against sexual abuse. A new legal framework for identifying online child sexual abuse is urgently needed in order to combat child sexual abuse.

 

More information: European Commission