At the end of 2005, new studies were carried out on the possibilities of website blocking, succeeding older ones conducted in the same field. They all supported the opinion of the Ministry that nothing opposed Finnish telecom companies following measures similar to those already in force elsewhere.

Telecom companies would be free to choose the technical means they considered suitable and efficient. Restrictions would be implemented on the basis of the list of sites to be banned provided by the police.

Police administration, however, realised it did not have the jurisdiction to hand out such highly confidential information. To remove this obstacle, the Ministry of Transport and Communications prepared a special enactment on measures restricting access to sites containing child sexual abuse material.

This process resulted in a bill introduced to the parliament by the Finnish Government on 21 July 2006. The 7 articles of the bill mainly focus on ensuring that police authorities are legally vested to provide telecom companies with the so called black lists of websites to which access should be blocked. This list is to be held highly confidential under all other circumstances. The Act will be implemented as soon as the bill is accepted. Telecom will block access to offensive pages on a voluntary basis.

Minister of Transport and Communications, Ms. Susanna Huovinen, has taken a leading role in promoting measures to prevent access to pages with child sexual abuse content. She has, on several occasions, expressed her concern about this kind of illegal material spreading over the internet. The Minister has also taken a firm stand on protecting children from other types of online illegal and harmful content. The Ministry of Transport and Communications cooperates with Save the Children Finland in different projects and greatly values the work they are doing for children.

Aleksandra Partanen, Ministry of Transport and Communications Finland