EUobserver.com

The European Commission has said that it is disappointed by member states' poor record inimplementing legislation on child protection.

"I'm disappointed that so many member states have failed to inform the Commission about their implementation of our 2003 work," justice commissioner Franco Frattini said on Tuesday, when speaking at the 'Innovation Day' event in Brussels.

"This includes essential provisions such as prosecuting sex tourism and the special treatment of children as vulnerable victims in criminal proceedings. I urge all Member States that are reluctant to co-operate with us to fight this horrible crime," he added.

While not mentioning the member states at fault, he did said about a quarter of the 27 EU members either did transpose European rules in this area at all or only partially.

"A number of member states – about six or seven – are not even transposing the legislation," he said.

Mr Frattini stressed in his speech that more should be done to protect children from sexual abuse, noting that the problem of child pornography is rapidly growing on the internet.

"I was saddened and shocked to hear that it is estimated that the number of internet sites with child sexual abuse material, increased 1500 percent from 1997-2005."

Besides appealing to member states to enforce European law, he intends to criminalize child 'grooming' across the union.

Grooming are actions undertaken deliberately to befriend and establish emotional control over a child in order to facilitate sexual abuse later on – such as frequently chatting with the child on the internet or giving compliments and presents.

Mr Frattini also gave his full support to initiatives taken by the private sector to safeguard children from abuse.

He mentioned the addition of a 'report abuse' button on the Microsoft instant messenger service MSN - with more than 240 million users in the world one of the most popular instant messenger services - which led to a drastic increase in reporting of incidences by youngsters.

"Technology can help us to fight child abuse. Yes, criminals use technology to facilitate this abhorrent crime. But technology can also help fight it," he explained.

Frattini 'disappointed' by member states on child protection