Introduction: Setting the Scene on EIO and the Interaction between Law and Technology

The European Investigation Order (EIO) established by Directive 2014/41/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 3 April 2014 represents a great step forward in cross-border judicial cooperation with regards to evidence gathering and exchange. The EIO allows judicial authorities to request evidence in a faster manner compared to the traditional instruments. However, the EIO is not the only pertinent legal instrument for attaining cross-border collection of evidence within the EU. Therefore, professionals need an unequivocal understanding of the situation: whether the use of an EIO is mandatory, and when evidence gathering abroad by means of an EIO is not achievable. This consideration highlights the importance of a systematic organisation of training courses in all Member States. From the technical point of view to accomplish the ambitious goal to exchange evidential material among judicial authorities in the EU Member States presupposes two essential components. First, it is fundamental having at disposal a secure communication channel for the evidence exchange and this is provided by e-CODEX, secondly, a communication tool is needed to speak to e-CODEX. This tool has been provided by the e-Evidence Digital Exchange System, developed and led by the European Commission. These technical components represent a major step forward in making judicial cooperation faster and more efficient. Within this scenario a package containing the evidential material might be exchanged as a simple attachment to any communication between the judicial authorities in the Executing and Issuing States. However, it is also crucial to use a standard for the representation of the data and metadata of the elements of evidence to streamline the process and make the investigations more effective. Standardising how cyber-­information is represented addresses the current problem of investigators when they receive relevant information from different sources in a variety of formats. This Volume collects contributions that deal with the legal perspective relating to EIO, its technological perspective and the combination of the two as essential for the successful result of the new European judicial cooperation in the criminal field.