Volume 12 - Issue 71
/ November 2023
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http:// www.amazoniainvestiga.info ISSN 2322- 6307
DOI: https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2023.71.11.26
How to Cite:
Akhtyrska, N., Kostiuchenko, O., Sereda, Y., Vynohradova, A., & Miroshnykov, I. (2023). The role of transnational electronic
evidence in the investigation of crimes. Amazonia Investiga, 12(71), 293-303. https://doi.org/10.34069/AI/2023.71.11.26
The role of transnational electronic evidence in the investigation of
crimes
Роль транскордонних електронних доказів у розслідуванні злочинів
Received: October 4, 2023 Accepted: November 25, 2023
Written by:
Nataliia Akhtyrska1
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3357-7722
Olena Kostiuchenko2
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2243-1173
Yurii Sereda3
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5244-3573
Anna Vynohradova4
https://orcid.org/0009-0007-3147-0821
Ivan Miroshnykov5
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1851-075X
Abstract
The purpose of the study was a comparative
analysis of the police practice of EU member
states and Ukraine regarding transnational
electronic evidence. Taking into account the
goal, the practice of law enforcement of EU
member states and Ukraine was chosen for
comparative analysis. The method of
comparative law and statistical methods were
effective methodological tools and the basis of
this research. The conducted research revealed
that the international community is making a lot
of efforts to reform the procedure for obtaining
transnational electronic evidence when adapting
to the current requirements. The new EU rules on
the provision and storage of transnational
electronic evidence cover the categories of
subscriber data, access to transactions, and
content. It was established that the SIRIUS and
TREIO projects are important tools for
supporting EU law enforcement agencies in
matters related to transnational electronic
evidence. In Ukraine, it is necessary to improve
1
PhD in Law, Associate Professor, Department of Criminal Process and Criminalistics, Educational and Scientific Institute of Law,
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine. WoS Researcher ID: GMQ-1294-2022
2
PhD in Law, Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Criminal Process and Criminalistics, Educational and Scientific
Institute of Law, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine. WoS Researcher ID: IVN-8144-2023
3
PhD in Law, Associate Professor, Department of Public and International Law, Educational and Scientific Institute “Law Institute
of the Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman”, Kyiv, Ukraine. WoS Researcher ID: ABD-5660-2021
4
PhD in Law, Associate Professor, Department of Criminal Process and Criminalistics, Educational and Scientific Institute of Law,
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine. WoS Researcher ID: JVG-2974-2024
5
PhD in Law, Associate Professor, Department of Criminal Procedure and Criminalistics, Educational and Scientific Institute of Law,
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine. WoS Researcher ID: GLS-8393-2022
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the legislation on the procedure for obtaining
transnational electronic evidence with due regard
to the international practice. The use of the
recommendations of the SIRIUS and TREIO
projects in Ukraine can contribute to improving
the procedure of international cooperation
regarding access to transnational electronic
evidence in criminal investigations.
Keywords: communication infrastructure,
digitization, electronic evidence, investigative
actions, pre-trial investigation.
Introduction
The development of information and
communication technologies is directly related to
the increasing transnational data flows. The
evolution of the provision of electronic
communication services and information society
with the help of hosting and cloud computing is
ongoing. The most acceptable conditions of
interaction between Internet users are created.
Internet infrastructure service providers assign
domain names and numbers to users, are
responsible for confidentiality and the creation of
proxy servers.
This evolution is characterized by new
challenges in the process of criminal prosecution
in cyberspace (Casino et al., 2022). The number
of crimes that have an electronic trail and do not
belong to cybercrimes is increasing. Information
and communication technologies and their
technical devices facilitate traditional crimes,
such as crimes against property and those that
cause harm to personal health. Access to
electronic evidence, such as text messages,
emails, and instant messaging applications, is
becoming an important component of
investigations.
Law enforcement agencies began to use
transnational requests for access to electronic
evidence more often. Requesting an IP address as
well as an access number and related information
are becoming essential components in criminal
investigations to identify the user. The
introduction and intensification of the use of
transnational exchange of electronic evidence
entails an increasing effectiveness of
investigations. The technical requirements of
such investigations are becoming very important,
the role of cooperation between law enforcement
agencies of different countries is growing.
A secure communication channel provides
opportunities for the exchange of electronic
documents between law enforcement agencies of
different countries, conducting the necessary
consultations (Vyshnevska et al., 2021). There is
also a growing need to adapt jurisdictional issues
when collecting and sharing electronic evidence.
Attention must be paid to the fact that the
retention of different types of data may represent
different levels of interference with the right to
respect for private life (Gascón, 2023).
A problem in obtaining transnational electronic
evidence for EU countries is a disparate legal
framework consisting of national, European, and
international laws and regulations. Bilateral and
multilateral agreements have a major impact on
regulating the collection, analysis and sharing of
digital evidence (Tudorica & Bonnici, 2023).
The role of electronic service providers and the
terms of implementation of the necessary
procedures has become the focus to overcome the
relevant problems.
International cooperation with Ukraine is carried
out in the areas of combating international
terrorism, crime, and cyber threats, regardless of
the military aggression on the part of the Russian
Federation. The use of transnational electronic
evidence in the investigation of war crimes is
becoming increasingly relevant. It becomes
necessary to study new initiatives of countries
regarding the organization of cooperation at the
international level during criminal proceedings
regarding the procedure for obtaining electronic
evidence.
In view of the foregoing, the aim of the article is
to determine the role of transnational electronic
evidence in the investigation of crimes. The aim
of the research involves the fulfilment of the
following research objectives:
1) determine the current trends in the
legislative regulation of the procedure for
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obtaining transnational electronic evidence
in the investigation of crimes using the
example of the EU and Ukraine;
2) group and propose new tools for supporting
EU law enforcement agencies in matters
related to the procedure for providing
transnational electronic evidence for further
implementation of positive experience in
Ukraine.
The first section of the study is devoted to a
comparative analysis of the legal regulation of
cross-border exchange of electronic evidence on
European territory. This section introduces the
reader to the leading e-evidence tools used in the
EU. Special attention was paid to such a tool as
the European Investigation Warrant Training
Project - TREIO, as well as to the definition of
the main tasks of this tool.
The second section of the work reveals the main
vectors of reforming Ukrainian legislation in the
field of cross-border electronic evidence. At this
stage, the positive practices of the SIRIUS and
TREIO projects discussed in the previous section
and other EU law enforcement support tools were
considered. This section provided statistical data
on the number of criminal offences in Ukraine
for which it is necessary to receive electronic
evidence. Also, the problems hindering the
effective exchange of electronic evidence have
been revealed.
Literature Review
Marandici et al., (2022) notably influenced the
author's position, highlighting the need for a
comprehensive analysis of the European legal
framework for the transnational collection of
electronic evidence. However, despite these
advances, there are significant gaps, as evidenced
in the findings of Gascón (2023), which highlight
the problems in the European Union's decisions
on access to electronic evidence for criminal
investigations. These gaps and challenges in the
existing literature justify the need for our current
study to determine the role of transnational
electronic evidence in investigating crimes. In
the course of solving existing problems, it
becomes important to evaluate existing
alternatives and determine their advantages and
limitations. In this regard, it is worth referring to
the scientific work (Abraha, 2021), which
examines various initiatives to improve law
enforcement agencies' access to cross-border
electronic evidence. The work concludes with the
suitability and sustainability of various
approaches compared to the stated goals and
some key principles, making it possible to choose
the optimal approach.
In separate works, it is proposed to use new tools
for collecting electronic evidence across borders
to solve existing problems. Toza (2020)
emphasizes the importance of an appropriate
enforcement and protection procedure and
examines the systemic implications of the
implementation tools of the European production
order model.
Some studies have emphasized the need to
establish proper cooperation between relevant
national authorities regarding the exchange of
electronic evidence. Ontsanou (2023), whose
achievements were considered in the author's
research, notes the importance of communication
between competent national authorities during
the collection of evidence. In this context, the
scientist analyzed the decentralized information
technology system used in this process to
facilitate access to justice with digital support.
The researcher concludes that the new procedure
for providing cross-border electronic evidence
will work taking into account national and EU
realities. Roishchak (2022) analyzes the new
rules for the exchange of cross-border electronic
evidence from the point of view of facilitating
cooperation between law enforcement agencies.
The author concludes that there is a need to
introduce obligations on digital service
providers.
The author emphasized that it is possible to
create data exchange rules addressed to foreign
service providers only with the simultaneous
harmonization of national criminal laws.
The studies (Tudorica & Bonnici, 2023; Amato
& Velicogna, 2022) consider the importance of
new central legal instruments for the exchange of
transnational digital evidence in EU countries.
The need to use the experience of the TREIO
project was noted. The importance of using a
secure and reliable communication infrastructure
based on e-CODEX is emphasized. A conclusion
was made about the need to make significant
investment in relevant educational initiatives.
The author took the mentioned works into
account during the formation of the approach to
the implementation of the positive experience of
the EU countries in Ukraine. At the same time,
problems existing in Ukrainian practice were
identified, in which the author noted the position
(Akhtyrska & Kostyuchenko, 2022). Researchers
paid attention the issues of international
cooperation during criminal proceedings, the
collection of electronic evidence, which are
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managed by a foreign service provider. The gaps
in the current legislation of Ukraine regarding the
procedure of international mutual legal
assistance for obtaining electronic evidence were
noted.
An active study of the issues under research
points to the need to pay special attention to the
procedure for providing and storing transnational
electronic evidence in the investigation of
crimes. The diversity of research in this field is
also stated. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out
studies according to new research criteria.
Methodology
This research is framed as a descriptive study that
seeks to exhaustively explore the current state
and prospects for implementing procedures for
the transnational exchange of electronic
evidence. A mixed approach was used that
integrated the statistical method, comparative
legal analysis, synergistic approach, the
historical legal method and the logical method.
In the statistical method, requests for cooperation
in the specified area of Ukraine towards other
states were analyzed, paying special attention to
communication with Great Britain, Germany and
Italy. The comparative legal analysis focused on
identifying the procedural components of the
electronic exchange of evidence in international
cooperation, comparing legal regulation in the
European Union and Ukraine. The synergistic
approach identified the sequence of
rationalization of the procedure for electronic
exchange of evidence in the context of
globalization and digitalization.
Furthermore, the historical legal method was
used to analyze the genesis of transforming the
legal basis of the transnational exchange of
electronic evidence. The logical method was
applied when studying the transformation of
approaches to transnational exchange of
electronic evidence in the context of current
realities.
The sample was formed in a reasoned manner,
processing a large amount of data from 25
sources, which are referenced in detail in the text
of the article. Figure 1 presents the step-by-step
structure of the study, providing a visual guide
for the reader's understanding.
Figure 1. Research design
Source: (developed by the author)
The first stage of the research
Determining research objectives, finding the main vectors of research, sampling procedure
The second stage of the research
1) Comparative analysis of the legal regulation of transnational exchange of electronic
evidence on the territory of Europe.
2) Drawing initial conclusions
The main experiment
The vectors of reforming the legislation of Ukraine in the studied area are substantiated
taking into account the positive procedural practice of the SIRIUS and TREIO projects, and
the tools of support of EU law enforcement agencies in matters related to transnational
electronic evidence
Analytical stage
General conclusions were drawn, proposals for reforming legal regulation in Ukraine in the
studied area were made taking into account the obtained research results, as well as the realities
and peculiarities of military law enforcement in the state
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Results
Comparative analysis of the legal regulation of
transnational exchange of electronic evidence
on the territory of Europe
In EU countries, electronic evidence appears in
approximately 85% of criminal investigations, in
65% of which electronic service providers are
located in different jurisdictions (Official Journal
of the European Union, 2018). According to the
statistics, 55% of the total number of
investigations in the EU contain a request for
transnational access to electronic evidence.
During criminal investigations related to
cyberspace in EU countries, it became necessary
for law enforcement agencies to have modern
tools for the use of electronic evidence (Official
Journal of the European Union, 2017). European
investigative orders (EIOs) are the main
mechanism for obtaining transnational electronic
evidence (Official Journal of the European
Union, 2022).
EU judicial cooperation tools of the Mutual
Legal Assistance (MLA) (Council of Europe, s.f)
help EU countries to cooperate in cross-border
criminal cases and exchange digital evidence.
The Digital Electronic Evidence Exchange
System (eEDES) was developed by the European
Commission to support EU countries in
managing EIOs and MLA procedures.
The main problem with EIO/MLA requests is
that their implementation can be time-delayed at
many stages of the process, resulting in reduced
efficiency. The task of the EU was to introduce
initiatives to simplify and accelerate the access of
law enforcement agencies to transnational
electronic evidence. This is reflected in the 2021
Additional Protocol to the Budapest Convention
(Council of Europe, 2021). On July 28, 2023, the
European Parliament and the Council adopted
the relevant Regulation (European Union
Magazine, 2023) and Directive (Official Journal
of the European Union, 2023). The documents
cover the categories of subscriber data, traffic,
and content.
The competent EU judicial authority has the right
to oblige electronic service providers (OSPs) to
store and provide electronic evidence during
criminal proceedings (European Union
Magazine, 2023). The basis is for OSPs to obtain
a European Presentation Order Certificate
(EPOC) or a European Production Order
Certificate (EPOC-PR).
The new rules guarantee reliable protection of
fundamental rights, including guarantees of the
right to personal data protection. OSPs must
ensure direct transmission of the requested data
in accordance with the EPOC at the end of the
10-day period. In emergency cases — within
8 hours. OSPs must retain requested data under
the EPOC-PR for a maximum of 60 days. The
required extension is 30 days. A decentralized IT
system should be in place to ensure secure
written communication between competent
authorities. The access points of the
decentralized IT system must be based on the e-
CODEX system. The provider of electronic
services can provide a reasoned refusal to
perform EPOC or EPOC-PR. The Regulation
(European Union Magazine, 2023) should be
applied in all transnational cases.
Service providers in this case are electronic
communication service providers and specific
information society service providers that
facilitate interaction between users. The service
provider must appoint an institution, a legal
representative in another state that is part of the
EU (Official Journal of the European Union,
2023). In the case of unmotivated non-fulfilment
of the relevant requirements, the member states
provide for the possibility of imposing monetary
fines. The amount is up to 2% of the total global
annual turnover of the service provider for the
previous financial year.
At the international level, relevant reforms
implemented by the United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Interpol have
been developed. In 2018, UNODC developed a
Practical Guide to International Request for
Electronic Evidence for Law Enforcement in
collaboration with its partners (UNODC, 2018).
The current SHERLOC UNODC portal allows
for the exchange of necessary electronic
resources. Interpol’s e-MLA initiative aims to
overcome the lack of international and secure
networks for the exchange of necessary requests.
According to the 2022 SIRIUS report, 45% of
EU law enforcement officers had never received
training on cross-border e-evidence requests
(European Union Agency, 2022). A total of 26%
of EU law enforcement officers have access
restrictions on their main work computer to some
online services, such as social networking
platforms. The relevant restrictions exist in 18
EU member states. More than 30% of officers
commented that OSPs usually provide only
partial answers or take too long to answer.
Moreover, 18% of respondents indicated short
storage periods of digital data as the main
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problem (European Union Agency, 2022). In
2022, the project developed recommendations
for improving the procedure for filing
international requests for access to electronic
evidence in criminal investigations.
An essential support tool for obtaining cross-
border evidence in the EU is the Training on
European Investigation Order (TREIO, 2023).
The basis of this project is the implementation of
EXEC, EVIDENCE2e-CODEX, and e-
Evidence. One of the tasks is the creation of a
secure infrastructure, which is necessary for the
exchange of EIO forms and evidence between
law enforcement agencies.
The essence and content of the elements of the
TREIO project (TREIO, 2023) are shown in
Table 1.
Table 1.
The essence and content of the elements of the TREIO project
EXEC
e-Evidence
EVIDENCE2e-CODEX
It is developed on the basis
of the independent and
secure transnational e-
delivery infrastructure e-
CODEX. The EXEC is
responsible for the fully
electronic exchange of EIOs
between Member States.
It is an appropriate instrument of
digital exchange applied at the
national level together with
national instruments. Law
enforcement agencies use
EIO/MLA forms digitally, send
them as a message. It is possible to
attach necessary documents to each
message.
is a standard evidence exchange
package application, a web-
based application for creating
and/or preparing evidence
packages and facilitating their
exchange through the e-CODEX
Infrastructure Implementation
Reference Portal.
In the context of the differentiation of the
electronic evidence exchange process, the leading tasks of TREIO acquire special
importance (Figure 2).
Figure 2. The main tasks of TREIO
Souce(grouped by the author)
The vectors of reforming the legislation of
Ukraine
The level of international cooperation of
investigative and judicial bodies of Ukraine with
EU member states is increasing in connection
with the development of the latest technologies,
the increasing public danger of crimes. The
mechanism for the international legal assistance
is implemented at the stage of pre-trial
investigation by the General Prosecutor’s Office
of Ukraine (Order No. 223, 2015), at the stage of
court proceedings by the Ministry of Justice of
Ukraine (Order No. 2599/5, 2019). Requests,
including those for the provision of electronic
evidence in criminal cases, are processed.
The scope of legal assistance, the order of
communication, requirements regarding the form
and content of the request, specifics of the
execution of requests are determined by the
Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine (Code of
Ukraine No. 4651-VI, 2023), provisions of the
international treaty of Ukraine (Law of Ukraine
No. 1906-IV, 2022). In the absence of an
international agreement between Ukraine and the
Development and publication
of training manuals on the
use of the digital system of
electronic evidence exchange
in the EU
Development and
implementation of
transnational training on the
implementation of EIOs
Adaptation of the skills of
law enforcement officers in
the context of transnational
specifics
Ensuring compliance with
data protection requirements,
technical aspects of EIOs
exchange
Application of relevant
procedural features during
investigations, intensification
of cooperation, strengthening
of security measures
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relevant state, international legal assistance is
requested on the basis of the reciprocity
principle. In urgent cases, requests to Ukraine are
sent from the competent body of a foreign state
through Interpol, Eurojust.
In case of a decision to send a request, the request
is sent to the authorized (central) body of the
requested party directly or through diplomatic
channels within ten days. It is also possible to
send requests directly in case of having the relent
authorities. In the event of a request from another
country, it shall be executed within one month
from the date of its receipt by the direct executor.
It is worth noting that in 2021, 208 petitions for
the granting of a special permit for the provision
of international legal assistance were submitted
to the courts of first instance (DIIA, 2022). Only
65 petitions were received in 2022 during the
hostilities on the territory of Ukraine. The
indicated trend shows a decreased activity of law
enforcement agencies in terms of increased
international cooperation in criminal
proceedings.
Table 2 shows the number of criminal
proceedings, for example, under Articles 200,
361-363 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Code
of Ukraine No. 2341-III, 2023), which were
under review by the courts of first instance in
2021 and 2022 (DIIA, 2022) and recorded
according to the reports of the General
Prosecutor’s Office (DIIA, 2023).
Table 2.
Statistics on the number of criminal offences criminalized under Articles 200, 361-363 of the Criminal Code
of Ukraine
Articles of
the
Criminal
Code of
Ukraine
Types of criminal
offences
The
number of
proceedings
pending in
court in
2021
The
number of
proceedings
pending in
court in
2022
Criminal
offences
recorded for
2021 (report of
the General
Prosecutor’s
Office)
Criminal
offences
recorded for
2022 (report of
the General
Prosecutor’s
Office)
200
Illegal actions with
transfer documents,
payment cards and
other means of
access to bank
accounts, equipment
for their production
32
16
1569
928
361–363
Criminal offences in
the field of use of
electronic computing
machines
(computers),
systems, computer
networks and
telecommunication
networks
391
437
3310
3 415
Source: (Code of Ukraine No. 2341-III, 2023)
The given example of the number of relevant
proceedings and registered offences for 2021 and
2022 shows the further need to obtain
transnational electronic evidence.
There are a number of problems in the field of
exchange of transnational electronic evidence in
Ukraine. The quality assessment of electronic
evidence obtained within the scope of
international legal assistance remains
problematic. The peculiarities of the type of
electronic evidence and the method of obtaining
it in another jurisdiction are mostly overlooked.
The legislation of other countries is not fully
taken into account for the effective use of
organizational rules. The terms of storage of
electronic evidence are not clearly defined.
Ukraine seeks to expand international
cooperation in this area. For example, the
General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine
cooperates with the Interpol’s initiative on the
secure electronic transmission of mutual legal
assistance (e-MLA). At the same time, the
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revision of legal regulation in the area under
research will be the subject of comprehensive
work by legislators and the public during the
period of post-war recovery of the state.
Discussion
The conducted research showed that obtaining
transnational electronic evidence is a global
necessity. This confirms the analysis of the
positive experience of the EU countries
regarding the use of various tools for obtaining
such evidence. The study of Ukrainian practice
also confirms the need for cross-border
electronic evidence. At the same time, the study
of Ukraine's legislative framework in the
researched area indicates the presence of some
obstacles to the exchange of cross-border digital
evidence.
Obstacles in the exchange of cross-border
digital evidence have been identified
One of these obstacles can be defined as
insufficiently effective cooperation between
competent national authorities and lack of proper
coordination. In turn, an uncoordinated change in
the traditional system of cross-border legal
cooperation may lead to the proliferation of
uncoordinated initiatives. The result may be
further jurisdictional conflict and legal
uncertainty (Abraha, 2021). According to the
researcher, a possible solution is cross-border
cooperation and coordination. The cooperation
can be bilateral, multilateral, regional or global.
It can be concluded that the adopted EU
legislative initiatives regarding the procedure for
providing cross-border electronic evidence will
require adaptation of funding and technical
development. The newly created transnational
evidence collection system has a different
philosophy, procedure, law enforcement and
protective structure (Tosza, 2020). There may be
difficulties with approbation in the initial period,
as the components of the procedure are calibrated
with the practice of the relevant courts and
authorities (Onţanu, 2023). According to the
researcher, it is extremely important to increase
the number of access points to the e-CODEX
system.
In general, it will be necessary to find a balance
between flexibility and the possibility of
development of legal and technical national
systems (Magno, 2023). The further
development of agreed rules of international
cooperation in criminal cases in the field of
obtaining transnational evidence should contain
components that will be applicable outside the
EU (Rojszczak, 2022). In support of researchers,
the study proved that the introduction of
permanent and more convenient rules of
cooperation with other democratic countries in
this area will be of crucial importance for the
success of the transformations.
It can be stated that the e-service provider, which
is the executing body, will be the only one who
can object to the fulfilment of EPOC or EPOC-
PR requirements. The direct involvement and
responsibility of electronic service providers in
evaluating data requests from law enforcement
agencies is problematic and deserves close
attention (Gascón, 2023). There must be an
awareness that internet mediators are turning into
judges or human rights defenders when they may
not be adequate to the task.
Ways to optimize the exchange of electronic
evidence
It can be concluded that the development of the
e-CODEX system contributes to the optimization
of the capabilities of electronic justice systems.
Increasing accessibility and overcoming barriers
in offline transnational legal proceedings should
be assessed from the end-user perspective
(Velicogna, Steigenga, Taal & Schmidt, 2020).
According to the researchers, further initiatives
should be aimed at increasing theoretical and
practical contributions. It is necessary to ensure
careful monitoring of changes, early detection of
problems, and the possibility of rapid
intervention.
It is established that, apart from available modern
ICT tools, the process of electronic evidence
exchange between countries can only work in a
transnational working environment. Equal and
effective conditions must be guaranteed. This is
only possible with significant investment in
training initiatives to familiarize practitioners
with existing legal options and improve their
skills and abilities (Amato & Velicogna, 2022).
There is a particular need to create the necessary
awareness of the actors involved through the
proper dissemination of information and
knowledge via such projects as TREIO (Biasiotti,
2023). Besides, we note that it is extremely
important to create special cross-border training
for magistrates and court employees to facilitate
the exchange of transnational electronic
evidence.
It is proven that Ukraine, needs the development
of the effective use of electronic evidence that is
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under the jurisdiction of foreign states in the
context of a full-scale invasion and active
hostilities on the territory of the state. It is
important to adopt a special law On Electronic
Evidence, which defines the concept of
electronic evidence, types, methods of collection,
evaluation, and use (Akhtyrska & Kostyuchenko,
2022). The researchers believe it is necessary to
establish procedural deadlines for filing a request
for the electronic evidence storage.
Conclusions
The international community recognizes the
problems and gaps in the digital evidence
exchange. It directs its efforts to bring this
procedure into line with the current realities. The
new EU rules on the provision and storage of
cross-border electronic evidence have been
developed in response to the variability of the
existing procedure. The need to develop the
international aspect of electronic evidence is
determined by the specifics of criminal activity
in the age of digital technologies. The application
of the same EU rules regarding the access of law
enforcement agencies to the information of OSPs
should improve legal certainty when receiving
and storing transnational electronic evidence.
The SIRIUS project supported by Eurojust and
Europol is worth noting. The project’s tools
assist law enforcement agencies by creating a
repository of applicable procedures for obtaining
transnational digital evidence from OSPs. The
project also guides cooperation processes
between competent authorities, contact
information and investigative tools.
EXEC, EVIDENCE2e-CODEX and e-Evidence
projects provide assistance in obtaining
transnational evidence in the investigation of
crimes. They include the development of useful,
legally binding tools for sharing digital evidence
related to EIO/MLA procedures. The TREIO
project focuses on the implementation of these
projects. TREIO is a necessary tool for
methodical support of law enforcement agencies
in obtaining transnational evidence in the EU. In
addition, important tasks of TREIO are: the
development and publication of specialized
training manuals, implementation of cross-
border training, appropriate adaptation of law
enforcement officers' skills, ensuring compliance
with security requirements, etc.
There is a need to improve the legislation on the
procedure for obtaining transnational electronic
evidence in the course of Ukraine’s integration
into the EU legal space. The conducted research
will be the basis for further research and reform
of the national legislation of the state in the post-
war period.
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