L 348/118 Official Journal of the European Union 24.12.2008 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 (2) The Commission Communication 12010 — A European 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 (9, Whereas: (1) The use of the Internet and other communication tech- nologies such as mobile phones continues to grow con- siderably in the European Union and offers all citizens great opportunities for, inter alia, participation, interac- tivity 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. (1) O] C 224, 30.8.2008, p. 61. (%) Opinion of the European Parliament of 22 October 2008 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and Council Decision of 9 December 2008. Information Society for growth and employment’ (COM(2005)0229), developing the Lisbon strategy, seeks to ensure coherence across the Commission’s infor- mation society and media policies in order to reinforce the significant contribution of information and commu- nication 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 commu- nications, 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 (), the protection of privacy (*) and the liability of intermediary service providers (’). Council Framework Decision 2004/68[JHA of 22 December 2003 on combating the sexual exploitation of children and child pornography (°) sets out minimum requirements for Member States in the definition of offences and appropriate penalties. Recom- mendation 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 audio- visual and on-line information services industry (’) builds on  Council Recommendation  98/560/EC  of 24 September 1998 on the development of the competi- tiveness 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 (%), by setting out guidelines for the development of national self-regu- lation, and extending its scope to include media literacy, cooperation and the sharing of experience and best practices between regulatory, self-regulatory, and co-regu- latory bodies and measures to combat discrimination in all media. (*) Directive 2007/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2007 amending Council Directive 89/552[EEC on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or administrative action in Member States concerning the pursuit of television broadcasting activities (O] L 332, 18.12.2007, p. 27). Directive 2002/58/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (Directive on privacy and electronic communications) (O] L 201, 31.7.2002, p. 37). Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market (Directive on electronic commerce) (O] L 178, 17.7.2000, p- 1). (6 O] L 13, 20.1.2004, p. 44. () O] L 378, 27.12.2006, p. 72. (% O] L 270, 7.10.1998, p. 48. = = 5 ~