On Wednesday 19 June, the European Commissioner for Justice, Věra Jourová, and the US Attorney General, William Barr, launched negotiations on an EU-US agreement on cross-border access to electronic evidence held by a service provider in criminal proceedings (see EUROPE 12187/2).
At a meeting in Bucharest, on the margins of the meeting of EU and US Justice and Home Affairs Ministers, they noted the start of the discussions and agreed to meet in September to review progress, Commissioner Jourová said on Twitter. At the beginning of June, the Commission received the green light from the Member States to open negotiations (see EUROPE 12270/3).
A joint statement issued at the end of the meeting indicates that Ministers from both sides recognised the “importance of swift cross-border access to electronic evidence” and discussed the implications of the US law on electronic evidence, the CLOUD Act, as well as the implications of European legislative proposals, still under consideration by the European Parliament (see EUROPE 12227/8).
In addition, European and US ministers discussed the fight against terrorism, current threats to electoral systems and the visa-free regime at the meeting. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)