1. Background

The European Data Protection Board and the European Data Protection Supervisor

Having regard to Article 42(2) of the Regulation 2018/1725 of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (‘EUDPR’),

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Having regard to the EEA Agreement and in particular to Annex XI and Protocol 37 thereof, as amended by the Decision of the EEA joint Committee No 154/2018 of 6 July 2018,

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Having regard to the European Commission’s request for a joint opinion of the European Data Protection Board and the European Data Protection Supervisor of 12 May 2022 on the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse,

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HAVE ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING JOINT OPINION

1. On 11 May 2022, the European Commission (‘Commission’) published a Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse (the ‘Proposal’ or ‘proposed Regulation’).

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2. The Proposal was issued following the adoption of Regulation (EU) 2021/1232 on a temporary derogation from certain provisions of Directive 2002/58/EC as regards the use of technologies by providers of number-independent interpersonal communications services for the processing of personal and other data for the purpose of combating online child sexual abuse (the ‘Interim Regulation’)5 . The Interim Regulation does not require the relevant service providers to put in place measures to detect child sexual abuse material(‘CSAM’) (e.g., pictures, videos, etc.) or solicitation of children (also known as ‘grooming’) on their services, but allows these providers to do so on a voluntary basis, in accordance with the conditions set out in that Regulation.

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1 OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39. 2 References to ‘Member States’ made throughout this document should be understood as references to ‘EEA Member States’ . 3 Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse, COM(2022) 209 final. 4 Ibid 5 Regulation (EU) 2021/1232 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 July 2021 on a temporary derogation from certain provisions of Directive 2002/58/EC as regards the use of technologies by providers of number-independent interpersonal communications services for the processing of personal and other data for the purpose of combating online child sexual abuseOJ [2021] L 274/41. 6 See also EDPS, Opinion 7/2020 on the Proposal for temporary derogations from Directive 2002/58/EC for the purpose of combatting child sexual abuse online (10 November 2020).