Council Recommendation of 25 June 2001 on contact points maintaining a 24-hour service for combating high-tech crime
Date: 2001-06-25
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: Internet, Interpol, fight against crime, information network, information technology

3.7.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 187/5

COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION

of 25 June 2001

on contact points maintaining a 24-hour service for combating high-tech crime

(2001/C 187/02)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the position adopted by the Council on 19
March 1998 inviting the Member States to join the G8 24-hour
information network for combating high-tech crime, and its
endorsement of the network’s principles,

Considering the communication of 26 January 2001 from the
Commission (cid:145)Creating a safer information society by improving
the security of
information infrastructures and combating
computer-related crime: Europe 2002(cid:146),

Whereas:

(1) The G8 network’s principles concerning national points of
contact for the purpose of combating high-tech crime were
adopted at the G8 meeting for Ministers of Justice and
Home Affairs in Washington DC on 9 and 10 December
1997. To these principles were added an action plan for the
the
establishment of
the network and an account of
commitments that the individual States take on if
they
join the network.
In the action plan, the G8 welcomes
countries also coming from outside the G8 circle to join
the network.

and there

are
increase.

(2) There is a great advantage in a global network like the G8
its
reasons
network,
importance will
law enforcement networks
If
combating IT-related crime consist of only a few countries,
they cannot obtain a sufficient overview of, or achieve
sufficient
in
cyberspace.

to believe

combating

efficiency

crime

such

that

in,

If

the

(3) The basic idea behind the network is that the handling of
various types of high-tech crime should be swift and highly
professional. The emphasis is put on conserving evidence
in environments where information can be quickly lost or
destroyed.
law
first measures
enforcement authorities are incorrect or slow, they may
obstruct or even ruin opportunities to investigate cases of
this form of crime. Another purpose of the network is that
the countries linked to the network should be able to
obtain an overview of computer network crime since it
often occurs
in
simultaneously at different
different countries.

taken by the

locations

still being made. At a high-level experts meeting at Europol
the
in November 2000,
intention to extend the G8 network would constitute one
of the official recommendations made by that meeting.

the participants agreed that

(5) At present,

the following
the network is made up of
countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland,
Japan, The Netherlands, Russia,
France, Germany,
Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and USA. Thus, nine EU
Member States have joined the network.

Italy,

(6) Those EU Member States that have not

joined the G8
network form part of Interpol’s national central reference
point system (NCRP). At present, more than 60 countries
are connected to Interpol’s network. An NCRP is usually a
specialist unit. The NCRPs of Interpol, however, do not
always provide 24-hour readiness besides the readiness
provided by the communications centres of the National
Central Bureaux. The cooperation within Interpol’s NCRP
network is based on the same principles that are otherwise
applied to the Interpol cooperation. This means
that
measures involving any means of coercion in order, for
instance, to conserve evidence are normally not handled
through this channel. The G8 network has in its principles
emphasised quick measures when it comes to freezing or
conserving evidence in computer systems or networks.
There is no competitive relation between the two law
enforcement networks. On the
they rather
It should therefore be possible
complement each other.
for those EU Member States that are not represented in
the G8 network to link a 24-hour
function to their
specialist units that form part of the Interpol cooperation.

contrary,

(7) Experience from, for instance, the world wide (cid:145)love letter(cid:146)
virus in May 2000 shows that the G8 network needs to be
both extended and improved. Effective maintenance of
24-hour readiness in the form of specialist units in the
that have joined the network represents an
countries
important
a
communications centre receives a message and forwards
it only after
In
connection with holidays, such a procedure may result in
fatal loss of time.

improvement. Today,

the specialist unit.

the opening of

it happens

that

(4) The network was established gradually over the years 1998
to 2000, and efforts to extend the number of countries are

(8) A desirable common standard would be that

the unit
designated as a national contact point really is a specialist

C 187/6

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

3.7.2001

unit that applies recommended international practice to
investigations of high-tech crime, and that
is
prepared to take any possible action, with due regard, of
course, to national legislation.

the unit

HEREBY RECOMMENDS:

(cid:151) those Member States that have not yet

joined the G8

network of contact points with 24-hour service intended
for the combat against high-tech crime to do so,

(cid:151) Member States to ensure that

the unit designated as a
the
contact point maintains 24-hour service, and that
contact point really is a special unit that applies established
good practice when investigating IT-related crime. The
contact point should also be able to take operational
measures.