Considering that cybercrime undermines the core objectives of the organisation (human rights, democracy and the rule of law), the Council of Europe supports measures against cybercrime by:

1. Setting common standards, including in particular the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime. This treaty is open to any country.
2. Following up on the implementation of these standards, in particular the Cybercrime Convention Committee (T-CY)
3. Supporting countries in the implementation of these standards through a range of capacity building projects worldwide. These projects are managed by the dedicated Cybercrime Programme Office of the Council of Europe (C-PROC) in Bucharest, Romania.

Website: www.coe.int/cybercrime

Legal Instruments

The most relevant legal instrument of the Council of Europe in this field is the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime. In addition to European countries, a number of states in Africa, the Americas and Asia/Pacific are parties, signatories or have been invited to accede.

The Budapest Convention is complemented by an Additional Protocol on Xenophobia and Racism.

Work is also in progress on negotiation of a 2nd Additional Protocol on enhanced international cooperation and access to electronic evidence in the cloud.

A number of other legal instruments are of relevance:

• Lanzarote Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (CETS 201)
• Data Protection Convention 108 and its Protocol (ETS 181), and modernised Convention 108+.
• Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and on the Financing of Terrorism (CETS 198)
• Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism (CETS 196)
• Medicrime Convention (CETS 211)

Institutions / bodies

The Cybercrime Convention Committee (T-CY) represents the State Parties to the Budapest Convention. In addition to representatives of Parties to the Convention as members, it includes as observers states that have signed or been invited to accede to this treaty as well as a number of international organisations. Functions of the T-CY include:

• Assessing the implementation of the Budapest Convention by the Parties
• Preparing Guidance Notes that reflect the common understanding of the Parties regarding provisions of the treaty
• Devising solutions to new challenges such as problems of jurisdiction and law enforcement access to data in the context of cloud computing.

The Cybercrime Programme Office of the Council of Europe (C-PROC) in Bucharest, Romania, is responsible for assisting countries worldwide in the strengthening of their criminal justice.

Key activities

Meetings of the Cybercrime Convention Committee (T-CY) twice per year.

Octopus Conferences every 12 to 18 months.

More than 240 activities per year under capacity building projects managed by C-PROC.

Resources and tools

• Octopus Community: an online community linking up cybercrime experts from all over the world that participate in Octopus Conferences and other Council of Europe activities against cybercrime.
• Guides and training materials
• Reports

Sources and links

• Council of Europe portal: www.coe.int
• Cybercrime portal: www.coe.int/cybercrime
• Cybercrime Convention Committee : www.coe.int/tcy
• Children: www.coe.int/children
• Data protection : www.coe.int/dataprotection