Cybercrime@EaP 2018: Roll-out of the Table-top exercises on International Cooperation in the Eastern Partnership region
With launching of the national Table-top exercise on international cooperation in Yerevan, Armenia on 10 September 2018, the Cybercrime@EAP 2018 project continues to support the countries of the Eastern Partnership by further developing their skills and capacities on cybercrime and electronic evidence. One area where such skills and experience are essential is international cooperation on cybercrime and electronic evidence, aiming for preservation and production of admissible and reliable evidence that can be used in pre-trial and trial proceedings in criminal cases.
Back in 2016, Cybercrime@EAP II project developed standard templates for requests under Articles 29 (data preservation) and Article 31 (access to stored data) of the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime were developed, aiming to increase efficiency of the 24/7 points of contact established under the Convention and assisting mutual legal assistance authorities in processing mutual legal assistance requests related to electronic evidence. However, despite the recent adoption of these templates by the Cybercrime Convention Committee at its 19th Plenary on 9 July 2018, these tools and opportunities they accord remain largely underutilized, with very limited testing and implementation in practice across EaP states (with notable exception of Moldova).
In an effort to remedy this situation, the set of Table-top exercise on international cooperation developed by the Council of Europe for the Eastern Partnership states aims to test the application of these templates in the format of simulated case study scenario, as well as to increase awareness of investigators, prosecutors and mutual legal assistance officials of coordination possibilities between police-to-police cooperation and mutual legal assistance channels, including assistance from international partner organizations such as Europol and Euorjust.
The exercises are taking place in the following dates:
- 10-11 September 2018 – Yerevan, Armenia
- 13-14 September 2018 – Baku, Azerbaijan
- 11-12 October – Minsk, Belarus
- 15-16 October – Tbilisi, Georgia
- 18-19 October – Kyiv, Ukraine
- PGG 2018: Cybercrime@EAP project website
