Following exchange of signatures between the European Union and the Council of Europe in June 2019, the joint European Union / Council of Europe project “CyberEast: Action on Cybercrime for Cyber Resilience in the Eastern Partnership Region” has formally commenced on 20 June 2019.

The CyberEast project builds upon the previous joint efforts capacity building efforts of the EU and the Council of Europe in the framework of Cybercrime@EaP projects, which targeted strengthening international cooperation on cybercrime and electronic evidence, achieving public-private partnerships between the criminal justice authorities and the Internet industry, and facilitating legal reforms to achieve better compliance with the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime in the six Eastern Partnership countries. The CyberEast project will focus on further improvement of legal framework and strengthening international and public/private cooperation – but also with added focus on areas of cybercrime policies and strategies; continuous training of law enforcement, prosecution and judiciary on matters of cybercrime and electronic evidence; and increased interagency cooperation between criminal justice and cybersecurity experts. All these components will be aided by increased visibility, civic participation and trust-building with relevant stakeholders in the region.

The project will be implemented for 36 months with the budget of 4.2 million EUR, with 90% of funding provided by the European Union under the European Neighbourhood East Instrument (ENI) and 10% contributed by the Council of Europe. Dedicated project team at the Cybercrime Programme Office of the Council of Europe (Bucharest, Romania) will support the implementation of the project in close partnership with EU institutions and agencies, project country teams and project partners.

Project CyberEast Summary