Republic of Moldova to gain faster access to electronic evidence in international criminal investigations

Law enforcement bodies in the Republic of Moldova will have additional tools for rapid and legal access to electronic evidence in international criminal investigations. This will be possible after Parliament voted today, in the first reading, to ratify the second Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime.

The document facilitates the exchange of electronic evidence necessary for criminal proceedings between the states that have ratified the Protocol. Currently, such a procedure can take between six months and two years.

More specifically, the document introduces additional instruments that allow competent authorities to benefit from more effective mutual assistance and from rapid and lawful access to electronic evidence located in other states, for the prevention, investigation, and prosecution of offenses committed through computer systems or involving the use of electronic data.

The draft was presented in Parliament by the Secretary General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Valentin Cioclea. According to the official, the purpose of the document is to ratify an international legal instrument that modernizes cooperation between states in investigating fraud and cybercrime.

"At present, a large part of the information necessary for investigating offenses is held by electronic service providers and digital platforms located in other states. Traditional procedures of international cooperation are often too slow for the nature of electronic data, which can be deleted or modified in a very short time, in the absence of an obligation on states to preserve them for a certain period. The Protocol establishes modern cooperation mechanisms that allow faster obtaining of electronic evidence while ensuring guarantees regarding fundamental rights and the protection of personal data," said Valentin Cioclea.

Implementation of the Protocol will fall, according to their respective competencies, to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Ministry of Justice, the National Center for the Protection of Personal Data, and the Information Technology and Cyber Security Service.

The document also provides for procedures on the disclosure of stored computer data, the granting of mutual assistance in emergency situations, international cooperation in the absence of applicable agreements, as well as the establishment of joint investigation teams.

At the same time, the Protocol establishes guarantees for the respect of human rights and the protection of personal data. States and service providers will be able to refuse or condition cooperation when requests do not comply with these guarantees. In addition, the Republic of Moldova reserves the right not to apply Article 8 of the Protocol with regard to traffic data relating to its citizens. According to the authorities, this reservation will help maintain a balance between the effectiveness of international cooperation in criminal matters and the protection of fundamental rights, including the right to privacy and personal data protection.

The Protocol was adopted in Strasbourg in 2022 and has been signed by around 50 states, which are at different stages of the ratification process. The draft law is to be examined by Parliament in the second reading.