New Area of Judicial Cooperation on Criminal Matters in the European Union: The Transmission of Electronic Evidence between Member States
New Area of Judicial Cooperation on Criminal Matters in the European Union: The Transmission of Electronic Evidence between Member States

Summary/Abstract: The digitalisation of justice aims to facilitate access to justice, improve overall efficiency andensure the resilience of justice systems in times of crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Regardingcriminal proceedings, the need for digitalisation is made even clearer by the modernization of crime,its partial digitalisation and its cross-border nature. It also follows from the international nature ofthe digitalisation challenges that the need to meet them cannot be reduced to the level of nationallaw enforcement but is also reflected in the framework of criminal cooperation between the MemberStates of the European Union. In this context, a new challenge for the digitalisation of justice is theexchange of electronic evidence. The European Union has adopted a Regulation on European Produc-tion Orders and European Preservation Orders aimed on the exchange electronic evidence betweenMember States. This Regulation shall be applied from 18 August 2026. The Regulation prescribesthat written communication between competent authorities and designated establishments or legalrepresentatives shall be carried out through a secure and reliable decentralised IT system. However,the Regulation does not regulate execution issues related to the transmission of electronic evidence.Thus, there is a risk that the service providers will carry out official requests through insecure com-munication channels, even though the European Union already has platforms that are suitable forthe transfer of evidence. The aim of this paper is to present the specifics of the legal and technicalplatforms already used by the European Union in this field and to be introduced in the future. Thearticle also examines the relevant legal background related to the operation of these platforms.

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