Draft legislation allowing the police to pose as children on the internet in an effort to draw out potential abusers has been sent to the Council of State to assess the legal implications.

Justice minister Ivo Opstelten said last year he planned to change the law to allow the use of decoys in child abuse and grooming investigations. Once the Council of State has made its recommendations, the legislation can be sent to parliament.

The change follows a court case involving a 38-year-old suspected paedophile who was cleared of making an appointment for sex with a 13-year-old boy via the internet because the child was in fact a police officer posing as a teenager.

Judges at The Hague appeal court said the man should not be convicted of grooming a child for sex over the internet because he had made an appointment with a grown man not a child.

Making an appointment for sex with someone over the age of 16 is never a criminal offence, even if the suspect thinks he is dealing with a juvenile, the court said at the time.

Fake child

Last November, Dutch children’s charity Terre des Hommes said it had identified 1,000 adults who wanted to have webcam sex with a child in a sting operation which lasted for 2.5 months.

Posing as a non-existent child from the Philippines calling herself Sweetie who was prepared to perform sex acts online, the researchers managed to get a reaction from people in 65 countries via chatrooms.

All the would-be abusers have been identified and recorded on film, Terre des Hommes said. The information has been passed on to Dutch investigators. Among the 1,000 suspects were 20 Dutch nationals.