The purpose of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act is to prohibit trafficking in, or the use of, children for the purposes of their sexual exploitation, and to prohibit the production, dissemination, handling or possession of child pornography.

The Act, which is aimed particularly at the Internet, covers film, video, tapes, computer disks, and other forms of audio and visual representation, through any medium, or produced by or from computer graphics or any other electronic or mechanical means. The Internet is not specifically mentioned but the scope of the Act is kept sufficiently broad to ensure that it will not become quickly outdated by advances in computer technology.