05/12/2022 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 05/13/2022 04:42
The Ambassador Permanent Representative of Spain to the Council of Europe, Manuel Montobbio, signed today, on behalf of the Spanish State, the Second Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime, on enhanced cooperation and disclosure of electronic evidence. The text includes tools aimed at facilitating the investigation of criminal proceedings requiring transnational electronic evidence.
The Ministry of Justice has represented Spain throughout the negotiation process and has been actively involved in the drafting of the text, with the support of the Office of the Prosecutor for Cybercrime.
This Protocol, which was adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 17 November 2021, improves and complements the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime, signed in Budapest in 2001, as well as the additional protocol thereto, signed in Strasbourg in 2003.
Its incorporation into Spanish law will facilitate the investigation and prosecution of criminal offences, as it will provide our procedural system with new tools that speed up, facilitate and provide legal certainty for obtaining electronic evidence outside our borders.
Its content maintains all the conditions and safeguards of Fundamental Rights already included in the Convention and, in addition, complements them with a detailed regulation on the processing of personal data.
In particular, the newly signed Protocol will reinforce cooperation through a number of measures that enhance the powers of the authorities of the States Parties, notably:
Non official translation