EU digital-data roadmap for crime probes
EU justice ministers will meet next month to discuss a ‘roadmap’ put forward by the European Commission on ensuring that law-enforcement authorities across the EU can legally access certain data.
The commission says that 85% of criminal investigations now rely on electronic evidence, adding that authorities need better tools and a modernised legal framework to access digital data lawfully, while ensuring full respect of fundamental rights.
published yesterday (24 June) focuses on six areas:
- Data retention,
- Lawful interception,
- Digital forensics,
- Decryption,
- Standardisation, and
- AI solutions for law enforcement.
Gaps in digital forensics
The EU body says that it will carry out an impact assessment this year on updating the EU’s data-retention rules.
To enable law enforcement to obtain evidence across systems and jurisdictions, the commission says that it will look at measures to improve cross-border co-operation for the lawful interception of data by 2027 – both among authorities, and between authorities and services providers.
The EU body has also pledged, together with Europol, to analyse gaps in digital forensics and help to fund the development of forensic tools.
‘Safeguarding rights’
It will also present a technology roadmap on encryption next year, to “identify and evaluate solutions that enable lawful access to encrypted data by law enforcement, while safeguarding cyber-security and fundamental rights”.
By 2028, the commission plans to promote the development and deployment of AI tools that enable authorities to “lawfully and effectively” process large volumes of seized data.
“To keep citizens safe in the digital age, law enforcement must have the tools, skills, and legal means to access data, always within the boundaries of necessity, proportionality, and fundamental rights,” said Commissioner Henna Virkunnen.