449 denmark’s position paper violate another State’s sovereignty. Whether or not a given act in cyberspace is done in violation of another State’s sovereignty requires a case-by-case assessment of all relevant factors, in particular the nature of and the effects caused by the cyber operation. Denmark supports the view that the lawfulness of a cyber operation should be assessed based on two different bases: the degree of infringement upon the target State’s territorial integrity, and whether there has been an interference with or usurpation of inherently governmental functions. Unlike the prohibition on intervention, a breach of sovereignty is not contingent on a coercion element. With respect to infringements on a State’s territory Denmark generally shares the view that cyber operations which result in physical damage or injury constitute a violation of a State’s sovereignty and may also violate the principle of non-intervention, or the prohibition of the use of force, cf. section 3 and 4. In addition to physical damage or injury loss of functionality may also, depending on its nature, scale, and effects, constitute such a violation. Cyber operations that alter or delete data without necessarily resulting in physical damage or loss of functionality may also, based on a case-by-case assessment of the nature, scale, and effects of the operation in question, constitute a violation. Cyber activities causing negligible physical effects or loss of functionality would generally not be considered a violation of sovereignty. Furthermore, interference with or usurpation of a State’s inherently governmental functions may constitute a violation of a State’s sovereignty or prohibited intervention. This assessment is not contingent on whether physical damage, injury, or loss of functionality have occurred, but rather if a cyber operation has interfered with data or services necessary for the exercise of inherently governmental functions. This applies irrespective of whether such inherently government functions are performed by the State itself (either by central, regional or local government) or have been delegated to non-governmental entities. 3 Non-intervention The principle of non-intervention is a fundamental principle of international law. It is a corollary of the principle of sovereignty, and more specifically the aspect that provides for the sovereign equality of States as set forth in article 2(1) of the UN Charter. Denmark is of the view that the prohibition of intervention is a rule of international law forming part of customary international law. This was established by the ICJ in the Nicaragua v. United States of America case where the Court Downloaded from Brill.com 03/27/2024 10:42:51AM distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ via Open Access. This is an open access article Nordic Journal of International Law 92 (2023) 446–455