ETS 185 – Cybercrime (Convention), 23.XI.2001
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Mindful of the need to ensure a proper balance between the interests of law enforcement and
respect for fundamental human rights as enshrined in the 1950 Council of Europe Convention
for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the 1966 United Nations
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other applicable international human
rights treaties, which reaffirm the right of everyone to hold opinions without interference, as
well as the right to freedom of expression, including the freedom to seek, receive, and impart
information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, and the rights concerning the
respect for privacy;
Mindful also of the right to the protection of personal data, as conferred, for example, by the
1981 Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of Individuals with regard to Automatic
Processing of Personal Data;
Considering the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the 1999
International Labour Organization Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention;
Taking into account the existing Council of Europe conventions on co-operation in the penal
field, as well as similar treaties which exist between Council of Europe member States and
other States, and stressing that the present Convention is intended to supplement those
conventions in order to make criminal investigations and proceedings concerning criminal
offences related to computer systems and data more effective and to enable the collection of
evidence in electronic form of a criminal offence;
Welcoming recent developments which further advance international understanding and cooperation in combating cybercrime, including action taken by the United Nations, the OECD,
the European Union and the G8;
Recalling Committee of Ministers Recommendations No. R (85) 10 concerning the practical
application of the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters in respect
of letters rogatory for the interception of telecommunications, No. R (88) 2 on piracy in the
field of copyright and neighbouring rights, No. R (87) 15 regulating the use of personal data in
the police sector, No. R (95) 4 on the protection of personal data in the area of
telecommunication services, with particular reference to telephone services, as well as
No. R (89) 9 on computer-related crime providing guidelines for national legislatures
concerning the definition of certain computer crimes and No. R (95) 13 concerning problems
of criminal procedural law connected with information technology;
Having regard to Resolution No. 1 adopted by the European Ministers of Justice at their
21st Conference (Prague, 10 and 11 June 1997), which recommended that the Committee of
Ministers support the work on cybercrime carried out by the European Committee on Crime
Problems (CDPC) in order to bring domestic criminal law provisions closer to each other and
enable the use of effective means of investigation into such offences, as well as to Resolution
No. 3 adopted at the 23rd Conference of the European Ministers of Justice (London, 8 and
9 June 2000), which encouraged the negotiating parties to pursue their efforts with a view to
finding appropriate solutions to enable the largest possible number of States to become
parties to the Convention and acknowledged the need for a swift and efficient system of
international co-operation, which duly takes into account the specific requirements of the fight
against cybercrime;
Having also regard to the Action Plan adopted by the Heads of State and Government of the
Council of Europe on the occasion of their Second Summit (Strasbourg, 10 and 11 October
1997), to seek common responses to the development of the new information technologies
based on the standards and values of the Council of Europe;
Have agreed as follows:
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