Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-04-10-Speech-1-068"
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"en.20000410.3.1-068"2
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"Mr President, the Commission would like to join several of the speakers in thanking the rapporteur for his excellent report on the draft Council decision. As has already been stressed, the aim is to intensify actions to prevent and combat the sexual abuse of children, with particular reference to the production, possession and distribution of child pornography through the Internet.
Finally, the Commission wishes to indicate to Parliament that it can fully support all the amendments tabled by Mr Kirkhope and the Committee on Citizens' Freedoms and Rights, Justice and Home Affairs, as they provide some very useful clarifications on the definitions and description of the activities to be criminalised, on the age limit, on the offence of possession and on the need for the law enforcement authorities, the police and the judiciary to adopt the necessary technological instruments to scan the net and to make the fight against paedo-pornography not just a rhetorical issue but a concrete action of the Union as such and of each and every Member State.
The Austrian initiative to reintroduce the draft joint action to combat child pornography on the Internet, on which Parliament has already delivered a favourable opinion, is welcomed by the Commission. One essential and positive aspect of the text is the encouragement of international cooperation, which is already well developed in other areas of the fight against criminal activities, such as drugs and illegal immigration.
As the Internet ignores national boundaries, those tracking down Internet crime must also be able to cross them. International cooperation therefore has to be encouraged as much as possible. The Commission has been closely involved in international activities and initiatives addressing this issue, such as the International Conference on combating child pornography on the Internet, which was held from 29 September to 1 October 1999 in Vienna. It was jointly organised by the Austrian and United States Governments and the Commission under the STOP Programme. The conference adopted conclusions and recommendations that are being actively followed up. The Commission therefore welcomes the fact that the draft decision underlines the need to engage law enforcement authorities and industry, especially Internet service providers, in a constructive dialogue aimed at improving mutual understanding and sharing respective experiences.
There is a clear need to identify appropriate fora where law enforcement and industry's concerns can be addressed and to encourage the development and implementation of codes of conduct and best practice. We should bear in mind that the key role must be played by self-regulation and by the individual responsibility of those who use the Internet.
The Commission has long been concerned about child pornography on the Net. In order to fight against it, it proposed a multiannual Community action plan on promoting safer use of the Internet by combating illegal and harmful content on global networks. The Council and Parliament adopted it on 25 January 1999.
The action plan provides support for concrete action in four areas: a European network of hotlines, self-regulation by industry, filtering, and rating and awareness. In addition, the Commission, and the Union as such, is involved in the work of the G8, creating a 24-hour points of contact network. It is also involved in the current negotiations on a draft convention on cyber crime in the framework of the Council of Europe that will address the specific problem of paedo-pornography on the Internet.
The Commission fully supports the position expressed in the draft report that the subject of child pornography on the Internet should involve the approximation of the laws and regulations of the Member States. We are convinced that agreements on common definitions, common charges and common sanctions need to be established for certain forms of crime. We have included in the scoreboard on the creation of an area of freedom, security and justice a specific action aimed at criminalising the sexual exploitation of children, with particular reference to child pornography on the Internet, as called for by the Heads of States and Government at the Tampere European Summit. A proposal for a framework decision on common definitions, common charges and common sanctions will be put forward after the summer.
The Commission will participate fully in the discussions that will take place in the Council with a view to adopting this draft decision in order to see whether further action should and would be needed. We welcome Parliament's proposal on a legal basis: as a framework decision it should be based on Article 34(2)b of the Treaty.
The Commission will also consider, together with the Member States, how to support the implementation of the decision through other projects funded under the STOP programme. These could be aimed at promoting further training and exchanges between those responsible in the Member States for fighting against this phenomenon, such as the police authorities, but also the judiciary, and at close cooperation between those authorities, Europol and the future Eurojus network."@en1
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