Starting
The kick-off meeting for the Digital Rights project was held on 22 November 2024 by videoconference from Rimini in Italy with the various project partners: the Venice Court of Appeal (project leader), Agenfor International (Italy), the European Public Law Organisation in Athens (EPLO), the Bremen University of Administrative Law in Germany, the Union of Italian Chambers of Criminal Lawyers, and the European Expert and Expertise Institute (EEEI).
EEEI has asked the Compagnie Nationale des Experts Judiciaires en Informatique et techniques associées (CNEJITA), an institutional member, to collaborate on this project.
The project will run for two years. Its purpose is to examine the transposition of several European directives relating to procedural rights and to assess the extent to which the fundamental rights of suspects and defendants are guaranteed during criminal investigations. It also aims to ensure a balance between this requirement and the need for effective judicial cooperation, in line with the fundamental principles of the European Union.
With this in mind, the Digital Rights program focuses on analyzing and optimizing the application of these directives in judicial proceedings involving cybercrime, the exploitation of electronic evidence (e-evidences) and the use of digital investigation tools.
Each participating State (Italy, Greece, Germany, and France) is examining the specific features of its national legislation to identify any disparities and harmonize practices in line with the European legal framework.
The project has several components. Firstly, a 21-question questionnaire is being proposed, covering the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime and the following five European directives:
- Directive 2010/64: Right to interpretation and translation.
- Directive 2012/13: Right to information on rights in criminal proceedings, notification of charges, right of access to file.
- Directive 2013/48: Right of access to a lawyer.
- Directive 2016/343: Presumption of innocence, prohibition of public references to guilt, right to silence and right against self-incrimination.
- Directive 2016/800: Procedural safeguards for minors,
Each partner country is responsible for distributing the questionnaires to a target group made up of :
- Each partner country is responsible for distributing the questionnaires to a target group made up of :
- 5 academics,
- 20 practitioners (lawyers, judges, law enforcement officers, digital forensic experts),
- 5 political decision-makers.
The aim is to ensure a balanced analysis between theory, judicial practice and public policy development. The questionnaire is attached for your information.
We would be delighted if you and your laboratory could contribute to this project. If you know of anyone else who might be interested, please don’t hesitate to pass on my contact details.
From a practical perspective, meetings of experts in the various countries and dedicated workshops will be organized during 2025 in Italy. The project will culminate in a final event in Venice at the end of the project.
Partners
Other participants
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