Chat Control: questions and answers

No. The permanent regulation is still being negotiated, and the file is listed as awaiting the Parliament's first reading position.¹ What passed in July 2026 is a new version of the temporary rules on voluntary scanning. The interim rules

Informal names. 1.0 usually means the temporary rules that allow voluntary scanning. 2.0 usually means the permanent regulation proposed in May 2022.² Neither name appears in the official texts.

It is a nickname used mostly by critics. The official title is the "Regulation laying down rules to prevent and combat child sexual abuse".²

No date is set. The next trilogue is tentatively planned for December 2026; after any deal, the Parliament and the Council still have to adopt the text.³ What happens next

The Council has published one country-by-country vote on this subject, on the temporary rules in July 2026.⁴ Where each country stands

The temporary rules in force today do not apply to communications to which end-to-end encryption "is, has been or will be applied".⁵ For the permanent law, the Council presidency said in September 2026 that end-to-end encrypted content would be excluded from searches, but the text is not agreed.³ Whether a chat is end-to-end encrypted depends on the app and its settings.

Yes. The temporary rules name webmail alongside messaging services as the kind of service that scans voluntarily.⁵ Email that is not end-to-end encrypted can be scanned on the provider's servers if the provider chooses to. How to protect your messages

The temporary rules do not apply to the scanning of audio.⁵ For the permanent law, negotiators agreed in June 2026 to leave voice calls out and keep voice messages in scope but out of detection.⁶

It does not change the encryption itself. It adds a check on the device before a message is encrypted. Whether that weakens end-to-end encryption is at the core of the disagreement. How it would work

Not through this regulation: in June 2026 negotiators agreed it "was not the place to regulate age verification" and removed the references.⁶

A new EU agency the regulation would create. Its agreed tasks include checking providers' reports before passing them on, keeping a database of indicators of known material, and searching publicly accessible content.⁷ Its seat has not been chosen.