There are many countries running the CSAADF, and thus preventing the distribution of child sexual abuse material on the Web, as defined in their national law. Since the various National Police forces evaluate the available child sexual abuse material do so according to their national legislation the results differ, and a domain that is blocked in one country may be legal, available and accessible in another.

When an users Internet browser is attempting to access a domain defined as illegal in said country due to content, a so called “stop page” is displayed.  Information about submitting complaints about the specific websites blocking is included on this page. Such complaints will be directed to the police in that specific country and will lead to the domain being re-checked and the blocking lifted or upheld. This functionality will deal with notifications between the Internet users and National Police.

The owner and/or operator of a domain will not normally be informed that the domain is blocked in one or more countries. The exceptions are the following:

• The material/images are stored on free file/image storing services. This will result in the domain owner being notified about the illegal files. In most cases the material will be removed quickly due to illegality or a breach in the Terms of Service.

• The domain is obviously hacked and an innocent domain owner is being unwillingly and unknowingly used as a distributor for child sexual abuse material. This will result in the domain being blocked and the owner notified through the contact details on the website. After the illegal content has been removed and the service is running normally again, the blocking will be lifted
  

• The domain is hosted in a CIRCAMP country; in such cases the police will usually initiate a full investigation rather than, or in addition to, blocking access to the domain. CIRCAMP countries will also notify police forces in non-CIRCAMP countries when applicable.

CIRCAMP is running a transparent system and do not wish block legitimate services, unless totally necessary where there is a mixture of legal and illegal content on a domain. In such cases, the whole domain is deemed illegal and any blocking will be upheld until all the illegal material is made unavailable. The responsibility for content made accessible on the Internet resides with the domain owner and CIRCAMP will not moderate any site on behalf of the owner, nor block only portions of any domain.

Due to the differences in legislation, a service running well within the law in one country may be illegal to access in another. Domain owners that are suspecting that their service is being limited in some countries now have the possibility to inquire whether their material is illegal to possess, distribute or access in any of the CIRCAMP countries. This will give the domain owners a unique opportunity to gain complete overview of the availability of the services and the possibility to adjust the material to fit all legislation in the desired markets.

On the Europol official webpage there is a form that ONLY domain owners can use to request a re-check of their domain. There are strict guidelines as to how the information is entered, and only those appearing in the Whois information for the domain may request a re-check. Any requests originating from other email addresses or persons other than the information listed in the Whois will be disregarded.

To enter a request you must have access to the email account registered with the domain, and other specific information will also be required.

Go to the Europol Request for review page for more information and to enter a request for revision of your domain.