DECISION No 1351/2008/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
of 16 December 2008
establishing a multiannual Community programme on protecting children using the Internet and other communication technologies
(Text with EEA relevance)
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 153 thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1),
After consulting the Committee of the Regions,
Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (2),
Whereas:
(1)
The use of the Internet and other communication technologies such as mobile phones continues to grow considerably in the European Union and offers all citizens great opportunities for, inter alia, participation, interactivity and creativity. However, risks to children and abuse of these technologies continue to exist and, as a result of changing technologies and societal behaviours, new risks and abuses continue to emerge. Measures should be adopted at EU level in order to protect the physical, mental and moral integrity of children, which might be impaired by their accessing inappropriate content. Moreover, in order to encourage citizens to exploit the opportunities and enjoy the positive benefits offered by the Internet and other communication technologies, measures promoting their safer use are also needed.
(2)
The Commission Communication ‘i2010 - A European Information Society for growth and employment’ (COM(2005)0229), developing the Lisbon strategy, seeks to ensure coherence across the Commission's information society and media policies in order to reinforce the significant contribution of information and communication technologies to the performance of the economies of Member States. One of its objectives is the creation of a Single European Information Space offering affordable and secure high bandwidth communications, rich and diverse content, and digital services.
(3)
The Community legislative framework addressing the challenges of digital content in the Information Society includes provisions on the protection of minors (3), the protection of privacy (4) and the liability of intermediary service providers (5). Council Framework Decision 2004/68/JHA of 22 December 2003 on combating the sexual exploitation of children and child pornography (6) sets out minimum requirements for Member States in the definition of offences and appropriate penalties. Recommendation 2006/952/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 December 2006 on the protection of minors and human dignity and on the right of reply in relation to the competitiveness of the European audiovisual and on-line information services industry (7) builds on Council Recommendation 98/560/EC of 24 September 1998 on the development of the competitiveness of the European audiovisual and information services industry by promoting national frameworks aimed at achieving a comparable and effective level of protection of minors and human dignity (8), by setting out guidelines for the development of national self-regulation, and extending its scope to include media literacy, cooperation and the sharing of experience and best practices between regulatory, self-regulatory, and co-regulatory bodies and measures to combat discrimination in all media.
(4)
There will be a continued need for action in the areas of content potentially harmful to children, particularly pornographic material, and of illegal content, particularly child abuse material. Likewise, action continues to be necessary to prevent children becoming victims of harmful and illegal conduct leading to physical and psychological harm, and being enticed to imitate such conduct causing harm to themselves and others. Particular efforts should be made to explore solutions to prevent an adult from making proposals, through information and communication technologies, to meet a child with the intention of committing sexual abuse or other sexual offences. At the same time, special attention should be given to the peer support system.
(5)
Action should also be aimed at preventing children from being victimised by threats, harassment and humiliation via the Internet and/or interactive digital technologies, including mobile phones.
(6)
Decision No 276/1999/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 January 1999 adopting a Multiannual Community Action Plan on promoting safer use of the Internet and new online technologies by combating illegal and harmful content primarily in the area of the protection of children and minors (9) (the Safer Internet Action Plan 1998-2004) and Decision No 854/2005/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 establishing a multiannual Community Programme on promoting safer use of the Internet and new online technologies (10) (the Safer Internet plus programme 2005-2008) have provided Community financing which, as demonstrated by the programme evaluations submitted to the European Parliament, the Council and the Committee of the Regions (COM(2001)0690, COM(2003)0653 and COM(2006)0663), has successfully encouraged a variety of initiatives and has provided ‘European added value’.
(7)
In addition to the findings of the evaluations of the predecessor programmes, a series of Eurobarometer surveys and a public consultation have clearly identified the need to maintain the activities on reporting illegal content and on awareness-raising in the Member States.
(8)
The programme established by this Decision should, inter alia, be aimed at creating educational packages for parents, carers, teachers and educators.
(9)
Evolving technologies, changes in the way the Internet and other communication technologies are used by adults and children, and shifts in societal behaviours are leading to new risks for children. The knowledge base that can be used for designing efficient actions needs to be strengthened in order to better understand these changes. Several measures and actions should be combined in a multi-faceted and complementary way; this should include, for example, taking measures to promote a safe and responsible use of the Internet, further developing supporting technologies, promoting best practices for codes of conduct embodying generally agreed standards of behaviour and cooperating with industry on the agreed objectives of those codes.
(10)
The programme should further support measures to encourage positive content for children.
(11)
The changing media landscape, resulting from new technologies and media innovation, makes it necessary to teach children, as well as parents, carers, teachers and educators, to use on-line information services safely and effectively.
(12)
Efforts should be made to protect children through the development of, for example, effective age verification systems and voluntary certification labels.
(13)
International cooperation is essential given the global nature of the problem. Illegal content may be produced in one country, hosted in a second, but accessed and downloaded worldwide. International cooperation, which has been stimulated through the Community networking structures, should be reinforced in order to better protect children against cross-border risks involving third countries. An exchange of best practices between European organisations and those in other parts of the world could be mutually advantageous.
(14)
All the Member States have ratified the 20 November 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, pursuant to which signatory States are required to adopt any national, bilateral and multilateral measure needed to prevent any form of child exploitation, and to adopt any legislative, administrative and other measure necessary for the purpose of upholding the rights recognised under that Convention, where appropriate by means of international cooperation.
(15)
The measures that the Commission is empowered to adopt under the implementing powers conferred on it by this Decision are essentially management measures relating to the implementation of a programme with substantial budgetary implications within the meaning of Article 2(a) of Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (11). Such measures should therefore be adopted in accordance with the management procedure provided for in Article 4 of that Decision.
(16)
The Commission should ensure complementarity and synergy with related Community initiatives and programmes.
(17)
This Decision lays down a financial envelope for the implementation of the Programme constituting the prime reference for the budgetary authority during the annual budgetary procedure, within the meaning of point 37 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and sound financial management (12).
(18)
Since the objectives of this Decision cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States given the transnational character of the issues at stake and can therefore, by reason of the European scope and effects of the actions, be better achieved at Community level, the Community may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Decision does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.
(19)
This Decision respects the fundamental rights and observes the principles reflected in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, in particular Article 3(1) and Articles 7, 8 and 24 thereof,
HAVE DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:
Article 1
Objective of the programme
1. This Decision establishes a Community programme to promote safer use of the Internet and other communication technologies, particularly for children, and to fight against illegal content and harmful conduct online.
The programme shall be known as the ‘Safer Internet’ programme (‘the Programme’).
2. The following action lines shall be addressed:
(a)
ensuring public awareness;
(b)
fighting against illegal content and harmful conduct online;
(c)
promoting a safer online environment;
(d)
establishing a knowledge base.
The activities to be carried out under these action lines are set out in Annex I.
The Programme shall be implemented in accordance with Annex III.
3. For the purpose of this Decision ‘children’ means persons under 18 years of age, unless the relevant national law confers on them, under certain conditions, full legal capacity under that age.
Article 2
Participation
1. Participation in the Programme shall be open to legal entities established in:
(a)
the Member States;
(b)
European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries which are members of the European Economic Area (EEA), in accordance with the conditions laid down in the EEA Agreement;
(c)
accession countries and candidate countries benefiting from a pre-accession strategy, in accordance with the general principles and general terms and conditions for the participation of those countries in Community programmes established in the respective Framework Agreements and Association Council Decisions;
(d)
countries of the Western Balkans and the European neighbourhood, in accordance with the provisions to be determined with those countries following the establishment of Framework Agreements concerning their participation in Community programmes;
(e)
a third country being a party to an international agreement with the Community, under the terms or on the basis of which it makes a financial contribution to the Programme.
2. The Programme shall also be open to international organisations and legal entities established in third countries other than those mentioned in points (b) to (e) of paragraph 1 under the conditions set out in Annex III.
Article 3
Competences of the Commission
1. The Commission shall be responsible for the implementation of the Programme.
2. The Commission shall prepare annual work programmes on the basis of this Decision.
3. In implementing the Programme, the Commission shall, in close cooperation with the Member States, ensure general consistency and complementarity with other relevant Community policies, programmes and actions.
4. The Commission shall act in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 4(2) for the purposes of:
(a)
adopting and modifying the annual work programmes, including determining the priority areas for international cooperation;
(b)
assessing the projects proposed following calls for proposals for Community funding where the estimated Community contribution is equal to, or more than, EUR 500 000;
(c)
implementing measures for evaluating the Programme.
5. The Commission shall inform the committee referred to in Article 4 of progress in the implementation of the Programme. In particular, the Commission shall inform that committee immediately about all selection decisions taken on matters falling outside of the scope of paragraph 4 of this Article.
Article 4
Committee
1. The Commission shall be assisted by a committee.
2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 4 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply, having regard to the provisions of Article 8 thereof.
The period laid down in Article 4(3) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at three months.
Article 5
Monitoring and evaluation
1. In order to ensure that Community aid is used efficiently, the Commission shall ensure that actions under this Decision are subject to prior appraisal, follow-up and subsequent evaluation.
2. The Commission shall monitor the implementation of projects under the Programme.
3. The Commission shall evaluate the manner in which the projects have been carried out and their impact in order to assess whether the original objectives have been achieved.
4. The Commission shall, by 24 June 2011, report to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, on the implementation of the action lines referred to in Article 1(2).
5. The Commission shall submit a final evaluation report at the end of the Programme.
Article 6
Financial provisions
1. The Programme shall cover a period of five years from 1 January 2009.
2. The financial envelope for the implementation of the Programme for the period from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2013 shall be EUR 55 000 000.
3. The annual appropriations for the period from 2009 to 2013 shall be authorised by the budgetary authority within the limits of the financial framework.
4. An indicative breakdown of expenditure is set out in Annex II.
Article 7
Entry into force
This Decision shall enter into force on the date of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Done at Strasbourg, 16 December 2008.