The EU has said that it will issue new proposals to help nations provide better safety to children online.

The EU is suggesting upgraded hotline systems, social networking awareness and age-rating to protect children.

EU Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes said that EU nations are not doing enough to protect children in the Web world, according to RelaxNews.

The EU expressed discontent with he existing safety standards, and added that new proposals will be issued later this year that will be include new regulations including age-rating for video games.

A European Commission report said existing recommendations to safeguard children "have been insufficient overall."

Kroes said that more and more children have started going online, adding, "we urgently need to step up a gear on what we do and how we work together to empower and protect children in this ever changing digital world."

The report asked the 27 EU states to improve awareness of hotlines and privacy risks on social networking sites and making better use of age-rating systems to prevent the under-age sale of video games, reported Relax News.

Earlier, the commission had said that sites such as Facebook were not doing enough to protect children from online paedophiles or online bullying.

The report also said that of the 14 websites tested, just two — Bebo and MySpace – had the necessary controls to prevent "potential strangers" from gaining access to profiles.