CoE and EC help South-Eastern Europe and Turkey combat cyber crime

STRASBOURG, March 12 – The Council of Europe, the Serbian Justice Ministry and the European Commission, in particular the European Agency for Reconstruction, will hold in Belgrade (Serbia) from 19 to 21 March 2007 a conference on combating cyber crime in south-eastern Europe and Turkey. The discussions will centre on the effectiveness of national legislation and its compliance with the Council of Europe Convention on Cyber crime, strengthening regional and international co-operation, and the capacity of criminal justice systems to investigate and prosecute cyber crime. The representatives of the 12 countries taking part _ Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” and Turkey _ will also pool their experience in the area, along with examples of best practice for preventing and combating cyber crime. In order to combat cyber crime and protect computer networks against criminal hacking and inappropriate uses, European governments are called on to:
* establish cyber-offences as crimes under their domestic law so as to harmonies legislation and facilitate co-operation;
* establish investigative and prosecutorial procedures and institutional capacities to enable criminal justice agencies to cope with high-tech crime;
* create conditions facilitating direct co-operation between state institutions and between state institutions and the private sector;
* set up 24-hour contact points to allow direct co-operation between multiple countries and establish inter-governmental emergency networks.
To date, the Council of Europe Convention on Cyber crime has been ratified by 19 countries (including the United States) and the Additional Protocol concerning the criminalisation of acts of a racist and xenophobic nature committed through computer systems by 10 countries.