Open AccessGATHERING E-EVIDENCE IN CROSS-BORDER CASES: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN EU LAW
Author(s) -
Aleksandar Chavleski,
Goce Galev
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
knowledge
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2545-4439
pISSN - 1857-923X
DOI - 10.35120/kij3201155c
Subject(s) - jurisdiction , sovereignty , order (exchange) , work (physics) , digital evidence , law , political science , commission , european commission , business , computer security , international trade , computer science , engineering , digital forensics , european union , mechanical engineering , finance , politics
With the fast development of the digital technology, the need for efficient gathering of digital evidence in criminal cases has risen exponentially. Often, the digital data is stored on servers located abroad, so national authorities cannot obtain them without seeking legal aid from their counterparts in foreign country/territory. This cooperation often doesn’t work seamlessly not only from legal, but from factual reasons as well. Here series of questions regarding national sovereignty, jurisdiction and international law are intertwined. In order to achieve sufficient speed in processing such requests, national authorities tried to bypass their counterparts in foreign countries and communicated directly with the service provider. These investigations are time-sensitive in order both to secure the evidence and its integrity. In order to adequately address these concerns, in June 2016 the Council of EU called the Commission to prepare an e-evidence package, which was eventually presented in April 2018. The aim of this article will be to give a critical overview of the proposed package mainly via its key component – the draft Regulation.