The Secretariat-General of the Council of the EU sent a document to Member States on Thursday 22 September, inviting them to take stock of their respective positions in view of negotiations over a possible convention on cybercrime under the umbrella of the UN. These negotiations are expected to take place at the fourth session of the ad hoc committee responsible for drafting this global international convention on combating criminal uses of information and communication technologies, due to take place in Vienna on 9 and 10 January 2023.
Looking at the detail, the document states that the chair of the ad hoc committee “may disregard” proposals made by some UN member states where these proposals have not been supported by other members. The paper therefore adds, “it is important that key positions are adequately reflected in the draft, at least as an option” and that this reflection should focus primarily on provisions “that cross the EU’s red lines”.
While a copy of the draft negotiating document is “probably” to be delivered to EU Member States in early October, they have been invited to set out their arguments to ensure that all options are reflected in the draft text in relation to the scope for cooperating on electronic evidence.
The options are for the EU to limit cooperation to those crimes defined in the Convention, for the US to focus on all serious crimes, or to extend it to all crimes without distinction.
In addition, EU Member States are also being asked to vote on whether to include the online sexual exploitation of children in the scope of the text, something that the EU and its Member States had not supported.
Similarly, Member States should also set out their position on the inclusion of copyright infringements and computer-related forgery. A number of Member States had made proposals that took up some of the provisions included in the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime. However, some delegations had expressed concerns about the existing divergences between the different national frameworks on such issues.
In addition, the issue of other ‘cyber’ crimes, such as terrorism-related offences or hate speech, will also need to be addressed. The paper calls on Member States to take stock of the situation, while UN member delegations remain divided on this issue.
Finally, Member States will have to take a position on a number of other aspects, such as the freezing, seizure and confiscation of property, as well as its recovery and the return of proceeds of crime or confiscated property and assets.
See the document: https://aeur.eu/f/3bl (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin)