determining the needs assessments of requesting states and the implementation of action plans 2.6 The COC includes Commonwealth states, organisations, and persons with the necessary expertise in combating cybercrime and providing capacity building who have expressed a willingness to carry out or assist in the implementation of requests. Members bring specific cybercrime skills and resources to the consortium and collectively create synergies to assist member countries. Although scoping missions will generally be conducted by independent experts who are free from the limitations of corporate mandates, the COC is the CCI’s primary resource for the implementation of plans of action. III 3. PHASE 1 Requests for Assistance 3.1 All requests for assistance will be addressed to the Commonwealth Secretariat. 3.2 The Commonwealth Secretariat (CS) will assist member states in formalising requests including:   ensuring they are submitted by an appropriately senior individual within the Government Department of the Requesting State or other competent authority responsible for the development and implementation of a national cybercrime or cybersecurity strategy (national strategy); encouraging member states to frame requests in terms of the development and implementation of a national strategy. advising on time frames. 3.3 The Commonwealth Secretariat will develop a request template for this purpose.  3.4 Once a formal request for assistance has been received and reviewed by the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Commonwealth Secretariat will submit it to the CEMC. 4. The Decision whether to conduct a Needs Assessment 4.1 Upon receiving a formal request the EMC will decide whether to conduct a Needs Assessment. 4.2 In making its decision the EMC will take into account   the approximate number of requests it can respond to effectively in any given period; whether there are strategic reasons to offer assistance to particular countries (for example, there might be an opportunity to integrate cybercrime preventative measures into a current ICT development programme). 4.3 The CEMC with the assistance of the Commonwealth Secretariat and the COC will develop and keep under review a list of experts willing and able to conduct needs assessments. Experts must meet at least the following criteria:     recognised expertise either in relation to the criminal justice response to cybercrime and the acquisition of digital evidence; or in preventative measures (and specifically information security); political awareness and sensitivity; independence from any conflicting interest; a willingness to follow the CCI model for needs assessments; 54