A proposed electronic evidence exchange across the European Union

Crime has become global, and almost all crimes involve electronic evidence. A significant problem has become the exchange of data, across jurisdictions and between the domestic participants in the criminal judicial process. Taking this development and the problems into account, the EVIDENCE Project1 was conceived. The project concluded that the European Union ought to develop a better means to exchange information and evidence relating to crimes quickly from one country to another for the purpose of investigating crime in a timely manner. The exchange becomes crucial in counterterrorism operations and when dealing with global crimes. At the same time, a secure and trusted exchange of information and of electronic evidence relating to crimes is an important element in order to promote judicial cooperation in criminal matters, as well to contribute to an effective and coherent application of EU Mutual Legal Assistance2 (MLA) and European Investigation Order3 (EIO) procedures. This paper deals with the electronic evidence exchange in Europe, and more specifically with the new challenges of the implementation of the European Investigation Order Directive - in particular, some of the results of the EVIDENCE Project are discussed. This article will consider some of the conclusions for future activities, with some ideas for the follow-up of the results achieved and the policies promoted by the European Commission. Tackling terrorism and organized crimes, including cybercrime, can be greatly improved by enabling the efficient, secure and trusted exchange of qualified information and electronic evidence among public prosecutors and law enforcement agencies of Member States, by adopting a standardized language and procedure to foster cooperation in criminal matters. In this context, the challenge is to facilitate the exchange of electronic evidence in the EU framework, making it possible to achieve improved international cooperation in the criminal sector, to include the specific context of EIO and MLA procedures that will allow a strong uniformity and harmonization for investigations procedures.