The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health is responsible for the preparation of the legislation on child welfare and for the general steering of child welfare services. The Child Welfare Act safeguards children’s rights and provisions on child welfare are laid down in the Child Welfare Act. Provisions on the rights of children are laid down in the Constitution of Finland. Furthermore, the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child are also binding on Finland.

The French President inaugurated the Children Online Protection Lab in November 2022 following the launch of the Call to stand up for children’s rights in the digital environment and the Declaration on the rights of the child in the digital environment adopted in March 2022. This international initiative aims to bring together governments, tech companies, academic experts and civil society actors to share expertise and best practices and test innovative solutions to protect children online more effectively.

This policy framework sets a plan for children in Malta by expanding children’s rights and guaranteeing the best interests of the child. Based on four priorities, the policy aims to promote a safer digital space and child participation. A feedback section is available for children to submit their ideas. A public consultation on the framework was launched in 2023. 
(Source: https://socialsecurity.gov.mt/).

Commissioned by the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, together with Waag technology & society, the Centre for Law and Digital Technologies (eLaw) of Leiden University has produced the code after consulting with children, designers, tech developers and other experts.  The Code for Children's Rights enshrines ten principles to guide developers and designers when developing digital services for children. The code builds on laws and regulations to ensure that the design process prioritises the best interests of the child, transparency and privacy.

In Austria - as in almost all European countries - there is a dual system for the restriction of advertising, consisting, on the one hand, of legal regulations and, on the other hand, of self-restriction guidelines. The code of ethics of the advertising industry represents a core part of the Austrian system for the protection of consumers against the misuse of advertising. Self-disciplinary mechanisms of the advertising industry serve to monitor and correct aberrations and undesirable developments in advance of and at the margins of the legal provisions.

The Communications Regulatory Authority of the Republic of Lithuania (RRT) is an independent agency focused on communication and media regulation. It is a member of the Safer Internet Centre, providing an internet hotline addressing pornography, sexual exploitation of children, CSAM, cyberbullying, and violence. Moreover, it includes information on content filtering tools to restrict access to and protect children from harmful content.
(Source: Website).

The Content Creator Protocol (CPP) addresses content creators, digital influencers, and vloggers based in the Flanders region who provides audiovisual services. It provides principles for publication respecting transparency on digital media, including guidelines for commercial content and communication for minors and prohibition of violent content and hate speech.
 

Entities responsible for implementation: Flemish Regulator for the Media / Vlaamse Regulator voor de Media.

The Framework Decision aims to guarantee that major forms of racism and xenophobia are punishable as crimes in the EU. In particular, Member States are obliged to make it a crime to publicly provoke violence or hate against a person or group of persons because of their race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin (hate speech). The Framework Decision also makes courts consider any racist and xenophobic motive when they decide about the punishment (hate crime).

Children can be the target of hate speech or hate crimes, both on-line and off-line.

The Council of Ministers Resolution 112/2020 approved the National Strategy for Children's Rights 2021-2024 (ENDC 2021-2024).
(Source: National Contact).

Entities responsible for implementation: Council of Ministers / Conselho de Ministros.