The Grand Committee of Parliament of Finland supports the Government's position in the EU negotiations concerning the proposal for a Regulation to prevent and combat child sexual abuse (the so-called CSAM Regulation). In its statement, the Committee presents clarifications to the Government's stance.
EU Member States last attempted to reach a general approach in December 2024, but the compromise proposal failed to gain the required qualified majority. The main challenges in the negotiations have related to provisions on detection orders—particularly the protection of confidential communications and encryption. In its November 2024 statement, the Grand Committee stated that the proposed model would have effectively circumvented the purpose of end-to-end encryption (press release: Grand Committee: Finland should not accept the CSAM compromise proposal regarding the detection order, 29 Nov 2024).
The new compromise proposal removes the provisions concerning detection orders, which the Grand Committee considers a positive development. The proposal no longer imposes a de facto obligation to break end-to-end encryption or restrict its use, nor does it lead to broad and indiscriminate monitoring or identification of communication content by authorities.
Instead, the proposal seeks to formalize the voluntary detection practices of providers of number-independent interpersonal communication services, as established under the temporary derogation regulation. Providers could continue, at their own discretion, to detect and report messages within their services. The Committee emphasizes that effective intervention requires not only public authority measures but also voluntary actions by service providers to ensure safe use and prevent crimes on their platforms.
The proposal has evolved in several respects in line with the negotiation objectives of the Parliament of Finland. It includes obligations that enhance the protection of children from online sexual abuse, such as risk assessment and mitigation duties, and the possibility to issue blocking and removal orders.
The Grand Committee supports, in principle, the model of integrating procedures from the temporary derogation regulation into permanent EU legislation. However, it stresses that further negotiations must ensure that voluntary detection provisions or any new solutions do not result in broad and indiscriminate interference with communication content, weaken data protection or cybersecurity, or hinder the use of strong encryption.
The regulation must also be fully compatible with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation and be implementable with current technology in a technology-neutral manner.
The Committee draws the Government's attention to the constitutional views expressed by the Constitutional Law Committee. Referring to its reasoning, the Grand Committee states that procedures and regulations created for crime prevention must meet the general conditions for restricting fundamental rights and be otherwise unproblematic from the perspective of the protection of confidential communications and other fundamental rights.
The Grand Committee considers that the Government must actively promote EU-level legal regulation that achieves the proposal's objectives of preventing and combating online child sexual abuse. This is especially important given the increasing and diverse ways in which such abuse is facilitated by digital networks. In addition to EU action, the objectives must also be effectively pursued through national measures and international cooperation. The fight against child sexual abuse must be based on preventing victimization, not merely on removing material or its distribution.
Parliament discussed Finland's negotiation position based on the government communication on a European Union matter. The Grand Committee received statements from the Constitutional Law Committee, the Transport and Communications Committee, and the Administration Committee.