The Second Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime (Budapest Convention) on enhanced cooperation and disclosure of electronic evidence (Protocol) aims to enhance cooperation among the Parties, as well as between the Parties and service providers and other entities, for obtaining disclosure of electronic evidence for the purpose of criminal investigations or proceedings. The Protocol was opened for signature by the Parties to the Budapest Convention in May 2022. An important provision of the Second Protocol aimed at enhancing cooperation among the Parties is Article 10. Pursuant to Article 10, each Party may seek mutual assistance from another Party on a rapidly expedited basis where it is of the view that an emergency exists.

This document analyses the toolbox which will be available to competent authorities under Article 10 of the Protocol, which – as opposed to other provisions, such as Article 6, 7, 8 and 9 – is a self-executing provision, not requiring any implementing domestic legislation. It also contains a comparison matrix between Article 9 and Article 10 of the Protocol, both of which oblige Parties to provide specific channels for rapidly expedited cooperation in emergency situations.

The document was prepared within the framework of the SIRIUS Project. The SIRIUS Project has received funding from the European Commission’s Service for Foreign Policy Instruments under Contribution Agreement No PI/2020/417-500.