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Ordinary legislative procedure First reading

Laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse

A proposed EU law. Parliament and the Council must agree on the same text: Parliament adopts its position, then negotiates with the Council.

Where it stands: Parliament’s negotiators are talking to the Council (last trilogue 29 September 2026); the plenary vote on the outcome is still to come.

  1. ✓ Referred to committee 12 September 2022
  2. ✓ Committee work Report adopted 14 November 2023
  3. ✓ Tabled for plenary 16 November 2023
  4. 4 Plenary vote Awaiting the vote
  5. 5 Negotiations with the Council Trilogue 29 September 2026
  6. 6 Published as law
How a file moves through Parliament

A file is referred to one lead committee (others may give an opinion). Its rapporteur writes a draft report, committee members table amendments, and the committee votes to adopt the report. The report is then tabled for all MEPs; political groups can table further amendments, which are voted on before the final vote in plenary. For a law, Parliament’s adopted text is its first-reading position; Parliament and the Council then negotiate a common text (trilogues) which both must approve before it is published as law.

Who is working on it

Lead committee
LIBE — Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
Rapporteur
Javier ZARZALEJOS PPE
Shadow rapporteurs
Alex AGIUS SALIBA S&DAntónio TÂNGER CORRÊA PfENicolas BAY ECRHilde VAUTMANS RenewMarkéta GREGOROVÁ Verts/ALEIsabel SERRA SÁNCHEZ The LeftMary KHAN ESN

The rapporteur drafts and negotiates the text for the lead committee; each other political group names a shadow rapporteur to follow the file.

The text, version by version

Tabled for plenary · latest Report A9-0364/2023 16 November 2023 ✦ Parliament's amended version of the Commission proposal for a regulation laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse. It sets risk assessment and mitigation duties for hosting, interpersonal communications, gaming and app store providers, and rules for detection, removal and blocking orders issued by judicial authorities.⇄ what changed Committee draft Draft report (LIBE) 19 April 2023 ✦ This is the rapporteur's draft report on the Commission proposal for a regulation laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse. It amends the proposal to cover online search engines and artificial intelligence systems, add delisting orders, and create voluntary detection orders.

Committee opinions: Draft opinion (BUDG),Opinion (BUDG)

Newest version first. Open a version to read it in full. “What changed” shows the differences paragraph by paragraph; ✦ lines are AI-written from the texts themselves.

Timeline

  1. Negotiations with the Council
  2. 29 September 2026 Trilogue meeting

    Negotiation between Parliament, Council and Commission on a common text.

  3. 29 June 2026 Trilogue meeting

    Negotiation between Parliament, Council and Commission on a common text.

  4. 11 May 2026 Trilogue meeting

    Negotiation between Parliament, Council and Commission on a common text.

  5. 16 April 2026 Trilogue meeting

    Negotiation between Parliament, Council and Commission on a common text.

  6. 26 February 2026 Trilogue meeting

    Negotiation between Parliament, Council and Commission on a common text.

  7. 9 December 2025 Trilogue meeting

    Negotiation between Parliament, Council and Commission on a common text.

  8. 22 November 2023 Plenary endorsed the mandate to negotiate with the Council

    Parliament’s negotiators can now seek a compromise text with the Council (in “trilogues”).

  9. Plenary stage
  10. 16 November 2023 Report tabled for plenary

    This is the text all MEPs vote on. Political groups can still table amendments to it.

    📄 Report A9-0364/2023
  11. Committee stage
  12. 14 November 2023 Committee vote: report adopted

    LIBE (Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs) voted on the amendments and adopted the report that goes to plenary.

  13. 27 July – 28 July 2023 Amendments tabled in committee (5 batches)

    Members of LIBE (Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs) proposed changes to the draft.

    📄 Amendments in committee (LIBE)📄 Amendments in committee (LIBE)📄 Amendments in committee (LIBE)📄 Amendments in committee (LIBE)📄 Amendments in committee (LIBE)
  14. 29 June 2023 Committee opinion adopted

    The opinion is attached to the report for the lead committee to consider.

  15. 19 April 2023 Draft report published

    The rapporteur’s first text in LIBE (Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs). Members can table amendments before the committee votes.

    📄 Draft report (LIBE)
  16. 5 April 2023 Draft opinion from FEMM (Women’s Rights and Gender Equality)

    An associated committee gives its view to the lead committee.

    📄 Draft opinion (FEMM)
  17. 8 February 2023 Draft opinion from IMCO (Internal Market and Consumer Protection)

    An associated committee gives its view to the lead committee.

    📄 Draft opinion (IMCO)
  18. 27 January 2023 Draft opinion from BUDG (Budgets)

    An associated committee gives its view to the lead committee.

    📄 Draft opinion (BUDG)
  19. 18 October 2022 Draft opinion from CULT (Culture and Education)

    An associated committee gives its view to the lead committee.

    📄 Draft opinion (CULT)
  20. 12 September 2022 Referred to the LIBE (Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs) committee

    The lead committee prepares Parliament’s report.