The European Parliament runs a public tracker of pending EU legislation called the Legislative Train Schedule. It is a genuinely useful service: one page per file, written by Parliament’s own staff, telling you where a law stands. For the Chat Control file, that page currently tells you something that stopped being true five weeks ago.
What the page says
Checked on 31 August 2026, the entry on combating child sexual abuse online describes the interim regulation, the law usually nicknamed Chat Control 1.0, in these words:
The act was adopted on 14 July 2021 and entered into force on 02 August 2021. It is was extended once and expired on 3 April 2026 as its new extension was not agreed.
At the bottom of the page is a timestamp: as of 20 June 2026. Nothing on the page mentions the vote that followed, and the regulation now in force is not named anywhere on it.
What the law says
The derogation did lapse in April. Parliament had rejected an extension in March, and the old rules ran out. For roughly four months there was no legal basis in EU law for providers to scan private messages voluntarily.
Then it came back. Parliament voted again in second reading on 9 July 2026, and this time the proposal passed, despite more members present voting against it than for it, because second readings require a higher threshold. The result is on the EU statute book as Regulation (EU) 2026/1881, dated 24 July 2026, a temporary derogation from the ePrivacy Directive for providers of number independent interpersonal communications services. It entered into force on 31 July 2026 and runs until 3 April 2028.
So the sentence on Parliament’s page was accurate on the day it was written. It has been wrong since the end of July.
Why this is worth pointing out
Not to score a point. The Legislative Train is maintained by people with a great deal else to do, it is updated in batches, and it has never claimed to be the legal record. That role belongs to EUR-Lex, the official database, where the regulation has been sitting in plain sight since July.
It is worth pointing out because of who reads that page. Journalists on deadline, students, campaigners and ordinary citizens go to an official parliamentary source precisely because they expect it to be right. Someone checking today whether their messages can lawfully be scanned would come away believing the answer is no. The answer is yes, and it will stay yes until April 2028 unless something changes.
This is also the ordinary condition of EU legislation, not a scandal. Files move in bursts, often in July, often just before a recess. Coverage written in good faith ages within weeks. Trackers lag. The gap between what is written down somewhere authoritative and what is actually in force is not unusual, it is the normal state of affairs, and it is exactly the gap people fall into.
How to check an EU file yourself
Three habits cover most of it.
- Go to EUR-Lex for what is in force. A regulation there carries its adoption date, its entry into force and the date it stops applying. Summaries elsewhere are commentary, this is the text.
- Look for the timestamp on any tracker. Most carry one. If it is older than the last thing you remember happening, treat the page as history rather than status.
- Separate the two laws that share the nickname. Chat Control 1.0 is the temporary permission described above. Chat Control 2.0 is the permanent regulation still being negotiated, and the two are at completely different stages.
What happens next
The permanent file returns to trilogue negotiations this autumn under the Irish presidency, after the round planned for 29 June ended without agreement. An adoption push is expected in October. Our explainer on who actually holds the pen this autumn sets out the rooms and the rules that decide it.
We keep the EU Chat Control Tracker current within 24 hours of every development, with primary sources linked, for the same reason this article exists: the status of a law is only useful if it is today’s status.
We checked the Legislative Train page on 31 August 2026 and quoted it as it stood. If Parliament updates it, that is good news and we will note it here.
