COMPREHENSIVE STUDY ON CYBERCRIME - United Nations ...

The last decade has seen significant developments in the promulgation of international and
regional instruments aimed at countering cybercrime. The genesis, legal status, geographic scope,
substantive focus, and mechanisms of such instruments vary significantly.
Five possible ‘clusters’ of instruments may be identified – (i) instruments developed in the
context of, or inspired by, the Council of Europe or the European Union; (ii) instruments developed
in the context of the Commonwealth of Independent States or the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization; (iii)
instruments developed in
the African context; (iv)
instruments developed by
the League of Arab States,
and (v) instruments
developed under the
auspices of, or associated
with, United Nations
entities.
These clusters are
not absolute and a
significant amount of crossfertilisation
exists between
the instruments. The basic
concepts developed in the
Council of Europe
Cybercrime Convention,
for example, are also found
in many other
instruments. 57 United
Nations entities, such as
UNECA and ITU, have
also had some involvement
in the development of
instruments in the African
context, including the Draft
African Union Convention
and the SADC Model Law.
Within a cluster,
instruments may have a
particularly direct
relationship. The
Commonwealth Model
Law, for example, is based
closely on the Council of
Europe Cybercrime
Binding
• Council of Europe Convention on
Cybercrime (2001) and Additional
Protocol (2003)
• Council of Europe Convention on
Protection of Children against Sexual
Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (2007)
• EU legislation including on e-
Commerce (2000/31/EC), on
Combating Fraud and Counterfeiting
of Non-Cash Means of Payment
(2001/413/JHA), on Personal Data
(2002/58/EC as amended), on
Attacks against Information Systems
(2005/222/JHA and Proposal
COM(2010) 517 final), and on Child
Pornography (2011/92/EU)
• Commonwealth of Independent States
(CIS) Agreement on Cooperation in
Combating Offences related to
Computer Information (2001)
• Shanghai Cooperation Organization
Agreement on Cooperation in the
Field of International Information
Security (2009)
• (Draft) Economic Community of
West African States (ECOWAS)
Directive on Fighting Cybercrime
(2009)
• (Draft) African Union Convention on
the Establishment of a Legal
Framework Conducive to
Cybersecurity in Africa (2012)
• League of Arab States Convention on
Combating Information Technology
Offences (2010)
• Optional Protocol to the United
Nations Convention on the Rights of
the Child on the Sale of Children,
Child Prostitution and Child
Pornography (2000)
Non-binding
• Commonwealth Model Laws on
Computer and Computer-related
Crime (2002) and Electronic Evidence
(2002)
• East African Community Draft Legal
Framework for Cyberlaws (2008)
• Common Market for Eastern and
Southern Africa (COMESA)
Cybersecurity Draft Model Bill (2011)
• Southern African Development
Community (SADC) Model Law on
Computer Crime and Cybercrime
(2012)
• League of Arab States Model Law on
Combating Information Technology
Offences (2004)
• International Telecommunication
Union (ITU)/Caribbean Community
(CARICOM)/Caribbean
Telecommunications Union (CTU)
Model Legislative Texts on
Cybercrime, e-Crime and Electronic
Evidence (2010)
• International Telecommunication
Union (ITU)/Secretariat of the Pacific
Community Model Law on
Cybercrime (2011)
57 The analysis contained in Annex Three to this Study (‘Provisions of international and regional instruments’) demonstrates that
many key concepts found in the Council of Europe Cybercrime Convention – such as illegal access to a computer system, illegal
interception of computer data, illegal interference with computer data or a computer system, expedited preservation of computer
data, and real-time collection of computer data – are also found in other, later, instruments.
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