On 6-7 December 2021, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and the GLACY+ project, a joint action of the European Union and the Council of Europe, organised the 3rd Expert Meeting to inform the preparation of a “Handbook on European law relating to cybercrime and fundamental rights”. Experts from the European Commission, Council of the European Union, CEPOL, Eurojust, Europol, OSCE, Austria, Belgium and Romania participated in the meeting.

The aim of the Handbook is to raise awareness on fundamental rights issues entailed in reporting, investigating, prosecuting and adjudicating cases of cybercrime. The core target group will be practitioners, including criminal justice authorities and law enforcement.

The 3rd Expert Meeting provided further guidance on the structure and focus on the handbook, taking into account the latest developments in Council of Europe and EU standards in the area. Participants discussed the impact of the adoption of the Second Additional Protocol to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime and ongoing negotiations of the EU e-evidence package on the scope and focus of the handbook, as well as how to present information to make the handbook relevant and accessible to criminal justice and law enforcement practitioners. Based on the discussions, the Council of Europe and FRA will prepare the terms of reference for drafting the Handbook.

Discussions at the meeting built on the outcomes of two previous expert meetings – one at the Cybercrime Programme Office (C-PROC) in Bucharest, Romania (15-16 November 2018), and another in Vienna, Austria at the FRA premises (14-15 May 2019) when the general scope of the handbook, its target group and sources of information on the relevant legal framework were agreed upon.

The Handbook is scheduled for publication in early 2023.

FRA: Handbook on European law relating to cybercrime and fundamental rights

Second Expert Meeting on the FRA/CoE Handbook on Cybercrime and Fundamental Rights

GLACY+ project webpage