Legislation to speed up the prevention of child pornography

The Ministry of Transport and Communications of Finland wants legislation to ensure that the police have the right to pass information about child pornography web sites to telecom companies.

Representatives of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior and the Office of the Prosecutor General consider it necessary for Finland, like other Nordic countries and Great Britain, to start voluntarily limiting access to child pornography web sites.

Transport and Communications Minister Huovinen says that she is satisfied with the telecoms' reactions as well as with the reports drawn up in the Ministry of the Interior and Ministry of Justice.

"This is of course a matter of voluntary cooperation between the telecoms, network users and the police, but I would like to give my support to proactive measures," she says.

A special Act would ensure that there would be no legal hindrance to the police passing a list of child pornography sites to the telecoms. The legislative proposal is expected to be ready in May.

"Drafting of the new legislation will be suspended immediately if another solution for passing the list to the telecom operators is found," Ms Huovinen says.


For further information please contact:
Mr Harri Pursiainen, Director-General of the Communications Policy Department, tel. +358 9 160 28389, +358 500 787 742
Mr Juhapekka Ristola, acting Director of Unit for E-commerce and Data Security, tel. +358 9 160 28348, +358 400 788 530