© Unsplash/Shane Uchi
That's the paradox. While in France a bill intends to impose strict age verification on people visiting pornographic sites, the reality of this measure will not correspond to the objectives originally sought. The cause, undoubtedly, is a lack of understanding of the current executive branch of European treaties, and the desire of France, as very (too) often, to go it alone – while in certain cases, uniting your neighbors to put in place a European text proves much more effective.
De facto age verification French sauce can only be imposed on sites based in France like Jacquie and Michel, as well as on sites based outside of France. European Union. As the European Commission has rightly pointed out, the treaties which bind France and its neighbors prohibit penalizing entities based in other States of the Union. In any case in this way.
Has the Élysée poorly thought out its strategy for legislating on the verification of the age of internet users ?
A directive on Electronic Commerce dating from 2000, introduced to guarantee legal stability in the bloc and avoid the triggering of commercial conflicts, in fact prohibits any Member State from penalizing or imposing itself regulation on a entity based in another Member State. The alternative would be to run the risk of a European company being constrained by an avalanche of coercive measures from several States.
As a result , Pornhub, a site owned by owners based in Canada, but a subsidiary of MindGeek, based in Luxembourg, cannot under any circumstances be targeted by the measures desired by the Élysée around age verification . Even though this site captures a significant portion of French internet traffic towards pornographic content. And the text voted by France is de facto emptied of its substance.
In addition to Pornhub, xVideos and xHamster are also spared from the French obligation to verify the age of Internet users for the same reasons. The only real credible alternative: push the Commission, that is to say, de facto the other Member States, to develop a text which will apply throughout the territory of the # 8217;European Union. Let us note in conclusion that the measure desired by the French executive also perhaps lacks sufficiently solid foundations to avoid the risk of being partially reversed by the Constitutional Council.
In short, a new version of “is there a pilot on the plane”, except that in this cases, it is clearly competent lawyers who seem to be lacking in the cockpit.
- During its last visit to the joint committee, the text on verifying the age of porn sites was largely emptied of its substance.
- In question, clearly, a lack of understanding of the treaties which bind France within the framework of the European Union.
- The only hope now for imposing such verification: push for the establishment of a law on a European scale.
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