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The Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime of 2001 is a historic milestone in the combat against cyber crime. Member States should complete the ratification, and other States should consider the possibility of acceding to the Convention or evaluate the advisability of implementing the principles of the Convention. With the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime and the recommendations from, G8, OAS, and APEC, we may reach our goal of a global legal framework against cybercrime.


By ratifying or acceding to the Council of Europe Convention of Cybercrime, or implementing the principles, States agree to ensure that their domestic laws criminalize conducts described in the substantive criminal law section and establish the procedural tools necessary to investigate and prosecute such crimes. This is the harmonizing of national legal approaches on cybercrime.


The Council of Europe established a Committee of Experts on Crime in Cyber-space in 1997. The committee prepared a proposal for a Convention on Cybercrime, and the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime was adopted and opened for signatures at a Conference in Budapest, Hungary, 2001.The Convention entered into force on July 1, 2004. As of January 2012, the total number of signatures not followed by ratifications are 15 countries. The total number of ratifications/accessions are 32:

  1. ‣Albania

  2. ‣Armenia

  3. ‣Azerbaijan

  4. ‣Bulgaria

  5. ‣Bosnia and Herzegovina

  6. ‣Croatia

  7. ‣Cyprus

  8. ‣Denmark

  9. ‣Estonia

  10. ‣Finland

  11. ‣France                

  12. ‣Germany                

  13. ‣Hungary

  14. ‣Iceland

  15. ‣Italy

  16. ‣Latvia

  17. ‣Lithuania

  18. ‣Macedonia

  19. ‣Moldova

  20. ‣Montenegro

  21. ‣Netherlands

  22. ‣Norway

  23. ‣Portugal

  24. ‣Romania

  25. ‣Serbia

  26. ‣Slovakia

  27. ‣Slovenia

  28. ‣Spain

  29. ‣Switzerland

  30. ‣Ukraine

  31. ‣United Kingdom

  32. ‣USA


For more information visit the Council of Europe Cybercrime portal