The Budapest Convention on Cybercrime is an international treaty signed by 66 countries. It establishes a legal framework for combating criminal offences committed online. The Second Additional Protocol to the Convention concerns cross-border access to electronic evidence in criminal proceedings. The EU Council adopted a decision on 5 April authorising the Member States to sign the Protocol.
Similar to the Regulation on electronic evidence currently under negotiation between the European Parliament and the EU Council, the Protocol provides for cooperation between authorities and service providers to exchange electronic evidence for judicial purposes. However, the protocol does not go as far as the provisions discussed for the future European regulation.
Member States are invited to sign the Second Additional Protocol, on their behalf, starting 12 May at the Council of Europe. The European Parliament, for its part, will have to vote on the ratification of this protocol in the coming months. See the Second Additional Protocol: https://aeur.eu/f/143 (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)