Introductory text

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 153(2) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee^f1,

After consulting the Committee of the Regions,

Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty^f2,

Whereas:

Internet penetration and the use of new technologies such as mobile phones are still growing considerably in the Community. Alongside this, dangers, especially for children, and abuse of those technologies continue to exist, and new dangers and abuses are emerging. In order to encourage the exploitation of the opportunities offered by the Internet and new online technologies, measures are also needed to promote their safer use and protect the end-user from unwanted content.

The eEurope 2005 Action Plan, developing the Lisbon strategy, aims to stimulate secure services, applications and content based on a widely available broadband infrastructure. Among its objectives, are a secure information infrastructure, the development, analysis and dissemination of best practices, benchmarking and a coordination mechanism for e-policies.

The legislative framework being established at Community level to deal with the challenges of digital content in the Information Society now includes rules relating to online services, notably those on unsolicited commercial e-mail in the Directive on privacy and electronic communications^f3 and on important aspects of the liability of intermediary service providers in the Directive on electronic commerce^f4, and recommendations for Member States, the industry and parties concerned and the Commission, together with the indicative guidelines on the protection of minors, in Recommendation 98/560/EC^f5.

There will be a continued need for action both in the area of content which is potentially harmful to children or unwanted by the end-user and in the area of illegal content, in particular child pornography and racist material.

Reaching international agreement on legally binding basic rules is desirable but will not be easily achieved. Even if such agreement is reached, it will not be enough in itself to ensure that the rules are implemented or that those at risk are protected.

The Safer Internet Action Plan (1999 to 2004) adopted by Decision No 276/1999/EC^f6 has provided Community financing, which has successfully encouraged a variety of initiatives and has given European added value. Further funding will help new initiatives to build on the work already accomplished.

Practical measures are still needed to encourage reporting of illegal content to those in a position to deal with it, to encourage assessment of the performance of filter technologies and the benchmarking of those technologies, to spread best practice for codes of conduct embodying generally agreed canons of behaviour, and to inform and educate parents and children on the best way to benefit from the potential of new online technologies in a safe way.

Action at Member State level involving a wide range of actors from national, regional and local government, network operators, parents, teachers and school administrators is essential. The Community can stimulate best practice in Member States by carrying out an orientation role both within the European Union and internationally and providing support for European-level benchmarking, networking and applied research.

International cooperation is also essential and can be stimulated, coordinated, relayed and implemented by action through the Community networking structures.

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^f7. Those measures should therefore be adopted in accordance with the management procedure provided for in Article 4 of that Decision.

The Commission should ensure complementarity and synergy with related Community initiatives and programmes, including, inter alia, by taking into account the work performed by other bodies.

This Decision lays down, for the entire duration of the programme, a financial framework constituting the prime reference, within the meaning of point 33 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 6 May 1999 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline and improvement of the budgetary procedure^f8, for the budgetary authority during the annual budgetary procedure.

Since the objectives of this Decision, namely to promote safer use of the Internet and new online technologies and to fight against illegal content and content unwanted by the end-user, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States owing to the transnational character of the issues at stake and can, therefore, by reason of the European scale 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.

This Decision respects the fundamental rights and observes the principles reflected in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, in particular Articles 7 and 8 thereof,

HAVE DECIDED AS FOLLOWS: