Legal Framework Challenges in International Cooperation for the Investigation of Cybercrimes

Abstract

Cybercrime is one of the most urgent domestic and foreign policy challenges facing the modern state. Counteracting the crime requires new legal and technical safeguards against criminal activity in the digital domain. At the same time, cybercrime is primarily international in nature; successfully combating such can only be achieved through close cooperation between all states and their law enforcement agencies. The prevailing legal framework for such cooperation is the 2001 Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, which now comprises over 80 member states. However, Russia has withdrawn from the Convention, citing provisions that it considers incompatible with its national sovereignty. In response, Russia and several other states have put forward a new draft convention on combating cybercrime, which envisions more effective mechanisms for interstate law enforcement cooperation, as well as up-to-date legal and technical countermeasures. The paper examines the content of the proposed draft convention, compares it with the Budapest Convention, and explores the potential scenarios for the implementation of both international instruments.