21-22 January 2020

Public Event (Invitations Only)

Brussels, Belgium


The ‘Digital Cross-Border Cooperation in Criminal Justice’ Conference, which was held in Brussels on the 21-22 of January 2020, brought together 118 professionals from 68 different organizations from EU and beyond. 24 Member States, the Council of the European Union, INTERPOL, EUROPOL, EUROJUST, EJN, EJTN, EDPS, and other EU bodies, alongside civil society, academia, training and professional organizations, etc. were represented in the conference meeting room.

The first day provided for expert presentations and discussions on the up-to-date legal and policy issues in the field of digital cross-border cooperation, the most recent IT and infrastructure developments facilitating the legal instruments, the involvement of law enforcement agencies in the judicial cooperation chain, the the role of the private sector in the judicial cooperation data flow, as well as for detailed presentations of the three projects.

The second day continued the discussions in the field of digital cross-border judicial cooperation in criminal matters with the following sessions: evidence exchange and standards facilitating the cross-border investigations; the changes in the legal professions to reflect on the pressing legal and technology needs; EU best practices and lessons learnt on the adoption of the cross-border cooperation tools. The event closed with a series of short presentations on the action plans and steps forward undertaken by the project partners to rollout and continue their efforts in the field.

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The Conference was organized within the joint framework of EVIDENCE2e-CODEX, EXEC and e-Evidence Projects.

The e-Evidence Project led by the European Commission, DG Justice and Consumers, provides for the e-Evidence Digital Exchange System that manages the European Investigation Order/Mutual Legal Assistance procedures/instruments (e-Forms, business logic, statistics, log, etc.) on European level. The Reference Implementation Portal is the front-end portal of the e-Evidence Digital Exchange System and is also provided by the EC.

‘Electronic Xchange of e-Evidences’ (EXEC) Project extends and strengthens key components of the e-CODEX infrastructure for the fully electronic exchange of European Investigation Orders and related electronic evidences between Member States. Each participating Member State uses e-CODEX to set up an access point to interconnect with other Member States for exchanging electronic evidences. While e-CODEX operates at international level, on national level the respective national systems are in play along with the e-Evidence Digital Exchange System.

‘Linking EVIDENCE into e-CODEX for EIO and MLA procedures in Europe’ (EVIDENCE2e-CODEX) Project provides for the Evidence Exchange Standard Package Application, a web application for creating and/or preparing the evidence packaging and facilitating its exchange through the Reference Implementation Portal and over the e-CODEX infrastructure using a language standard for the representation of the information of the evidence package (data and meta data related to an evidence).



Venue

The conference will take place in European Commission Building Charlemagne, Rue de la Loi, 170, Brussels, Belgium.



Agenda

Tuesday, 21 January 2020

09:00 – 09:30

Registration & Welcome Coffee

09:30 – 09:45

Opening by

Didier Reynders, European Commissioner for Justice (via video message)

Keynote Address by

Alain Pilette, Deputy Director Justice, DG JAI Justice and Home Affairs at Council of the European Union

Making Cross-border Cooperation Easy: Best IT Practices

09:45 – 11:00

Introductory Comments

Dr Martin Schneider, Ministry of Constitutional Affairs, Reforms, Deregulation and Justice, Austria

e-CODEX in a Nutshell

Isabelle Biallaß, Dr Gereon Laumann, Ministry of Justice of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Frank Woud, e-CODEX Community & External Relations Management, Ministry of Justice and Security, the Netherlands

Luc Ferrand, Senior Legal Advisor, European Bailiffs’ Foundation

German-Dutch Pilot on Mutual Legal Assistance

Guido Schreiner, Public Prosecutor, Public Prosecution Office Aachen, Germany

Portuguese Example on How the Judiciary Reform Affected the Use of Technology in the Criminal Justice Cooperation Field

Pedro Tavares, Digital Advisor, Ministry of Justice, Portugal

Digitalisation of Cross-border Judicial Procedures

Gösta Petri, Deputy Head of Unit, DG Justice and Consumers, European Commission

11:00 – 11:30

Coffee Break

Law Enforcement Agencies’ Data Exchange Within and Outside the EU

11:30 – 12:45

INTERPOL’s Global Communications System and Data Exchanges with the Private Sector

John Barry, Assistant Director ICT Law, Office of Legal Affairs, INTERPOL General Secretariat

SIRIUS EU Digital Evidence Situation Report

Tomas Penna, Project Outreach Agent at the European Counter Terrorism Centre, Europol

EIO Workflow between Austria and Germany

Christian Förster, Lawful Interception, Central Office for Information Technology in the Security Sphere (ZITiS), Germany

Judicial Cooperation: Practical and Legislative Aspects

Dr. Judith Herrnfeld, Prosecutor, Federal Ministry of Constitutional Affairs, Reforms, Deregulation and Justice, Austria

Panel Discussion

Moderated by John Barry

12:45 – 13:45

Lunch

Cross-Border Access to e-Evidence: Designing Rules for the EU

13:45 – 14:45

Introductory Comments

Prof Jeanne Mifsud Bonnici, University of Groningen, the Netherlands

Panel Discussion

Tania Schröter, Deputy Head of Procedural Criminal Law Unit - DG Justice and Consumers, European Commission

Jorge Espina, Assistant to the National Member for Spain, Spanish Desk at Eurojust

Sónia de Sousa Pereira, Data Protection Unit, Europol

Moderated by Prof Jeanne Mifsud Bonnici

Building up: Electronic Exchange of Evidence in European Investigation Order

14:45 – 16:00

e-Evidence Digital Exchange System

Cristian Nicolau, Head of Unit eJustice, IT and Document Management, DG Justice and Consumers, European Commission

Djamila Ben Miloud, Project Manager, DG Justice and Consumers, European Commission

EVIDENCE2e-CODEX: Linking EVIDENCE into e-CODEX for EIO and MLA procedures in Europe

Dr Maria Angela Biasiotti, Researcher, Institute of Legal Informatics and Judicial Systems at the National Research Council, Italy

EXEC: Electronic Xchange of e-Evidences with e-CODEX

Mathias Maurer, Project Coordinator, Federal Ministry of Constitutional Affairs, Reforms, Deregulation and Justice, Austria

16:00 – 16:30

Coffee Break

Private Sector and e-Evidence

16:30 - 17:30

Introductory Comments

Dr Maria Angela Biasiotti, Researcher, Institute of Legal Informatics and Judicial Systems at the National Research Council, Italy

Panel Discussion

Dr Maximilian Schubert, Chairman, EuroISPA

Jiri Novak, Chair IT Law Committee, Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe

Dr Marco Stefan, Research Fellow, Centre for European Policy Studies

Prof Joseph Cannataci, University of Groningen, the Netherlands

Moderated by Dr Maria Angela Biasiotti

17:30 - 17:45

Closing Remarks for the Day

Dr Maria Angela Biasiotti, Researcher, Institute of Legal Informatics and Judicial Systems at the National Research Council, Italy

19:30

Welcome Drink & Social Dinner

@ Park Side Brasserie, Avenue de la Joyeuse Entrée 24, 1000 Brussels


Wednesday, 22 January 2020

09:00 – 09:30

Registration for the day & Morning Coffee

09:30 – 09:45

Digital Cross-border Challenges: Summary of Day 1

Frank Woud, e-CODEX Community & External Relations Management, Ministry of Justice and Security, the Netherlands

Digital Evidence Exchange: Improving Criminal Justice in EU Cyberspace

09:45 – 11:00

Evidence Exchange under EIO/MLA: CASE Standard, Large File of Evidence, Evidence Packaging

Fabrizio Turchi, Senior Technologist, Institute of Legal Informatics and Judicial Systems at the National Research Council, Italy

CASE Ontology: Status and Future

Mattia Epifani, Researcher, Institute of Legal Informatics and Judicial Systems at the National Research Council, Italy

Evidence Exchange Package Application for Facilitating the Evidence Package Exchange through the Reference Implementation and e-CODEX

Nikolaos Matskanis, Senior R&D Engineer, Centre of Excellence in Information and Communication Technologies, Belgium

Q&A Session on Technical Aspects

Moderated by Fabrizio Turchi

11:00 – 11:30

Coffee Break

Criminal Justice in Cyberspace: Are the Legal Professions Ready?

11:30 – 12:30

Introductory Comments

Simone Cuomo, Senior Legal Advisor, Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe

Panel Discussion

Iain Mitchel QC, Chair Surveillance Working Group, Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe

Yves Vandermeer, Chair, ECTEG - European Cybercrime Training and Education Group

Ianina Lipara, Secretariat Coordinator, European Judicial Network

Alina Secrieru, Project Manager - Criminal Law, European Judicial Training Network

Moderated by Simone Cuomo

12:30 – 13:30

Lunch

Lessons Learnt

13:30 – 14:45

Introductory Comments

Frank Woud, e-CODEX Community & External Relations Management, Ministry of Justice and Security, the Netherlands

Sharing the Dutch Perspective

Huub Moelker, Business Consultant, Judicial Information Service, the Netherlands

e-CODEX Initiatives and Experiences in Italy

Giulio Borsari, IT Department Officer, Coordination of International e-Justice Projects, Ministry of Justice, Italy

Experiences of the Spanish Approach

José Manuel Martínez, Project Team Leader of Technological Developments, ISDEFE, Spain

The Croatian Experience

Božidar Jančić, Head of IT Unit, Ministry of Justice, Croatia

Way Forward and Action Plans

14:45 – 15:55

Leading EIO into Maturity: EVIDENCE2e-CODEX Action Plan

Prof Jeanne Mifsud Bonnici, University of Groningen, the Netherlands

e-Evidence Digital Exchange System: National Project Plans

Cristian Nicolau, Head of Unit eJustice, IT and Document Management, DG Justice and Consumers, European Commission

EXEC Roll Out

Sandra Taal, Community Management e-CODEX, Ministry of Justice and Security, the Netherlands

Beyond EXEC – What Next?

Mathias Maurer, Project Coordinator, Federal Ministry of Constitutional Affairs, Reforms, Deregulation and Justice, Austria

Cross-border Digital Criminal Justice Project

Tomasz Debski, Project Manager, Unit General Criminal Law and Judicial Training, DG Justice and Consumers, European Commission

15:55 - 16:00

Closing Remark

Cristian Nicolau, Head of Unit eJustice, IT and Document Management, DG Justice and Consumers, European Commission

16:00 – 16:30

Networking over Coffee



Presentations

All presentations are provided as downloadble links in the agenda above.

Where such links are not indicated, the consent for distribution is not given or the speach has not been supported by a multimedia presentation.



Resources



Photos