.PT joins European call for a common framework on child safety online

.PT has joined 14 other associations from Europe's digital economy in a joint statement calling on the European Commission to set out a clear, coherent and rights-based European approach to child safety online. 

The problem the statement identifies is fragmentation. Several Member States are legislating in parallel to the EU process, creating national rules that sit on top of the Digital Services Act or conflict with it. In the signatories' view, this does not make children safer: it makes Europe more fragmented and leaves children with different levels of protection depending on where they live.

The statement argues that the EU framework already in place is the right vehicle, and that it should be built into one harmonised rulebook, properly enforced and flexible enough to evolve with technology. It also stresses that children's rights must be considered in their entirety: safety alongside privacy, access to information, freedom of expression, participation, education and play, with measures that are proportionate and carefully assessed so as not to restrict the opportunities the internet offers young people. The text builds on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and its guidance for the digital environment.

The joint statement is signed by 15 associations: ACT – Association for Competitive Technology, Adigital, AFNUM – Alliance Française des Industries du Numérique, AMETIC, Anitec-Assinform, ASIC – Association des Services Internet Communautaires, BVDW – Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft, CCIA – Computer and Communications Industry Association, Developers' Alliance, DOT Europe, eco – Association of the Internet Industry, EuroISPA – European Internet Service Providers Association, ITI – Information Technology Industry Council, .PT and techUK.

Read the joint statement here.