The Council of Europe

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 neccessary 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 February 2007, the total number of signatures not followed by ratifications are 22 countries. The total number of ratifications/accessions are 23:

• Albania
• Armenia
• Bulgaria
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Croatia
• Cyprus
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Hungary
• Iceland
• Italy
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Macedonia
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Romania
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Ukraine
• USA
  

An International Conference on "Cybercrime: A Global Challenge, A Global Response" was held in Madrid in December 2005, in a joint effort by the Council of Europe, Spain and the Organization of American States (OAS).