JUD-IT: Cross-Border Access to Electronic Data in EU Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters
Duration: September 2017 to August 2019
Researchers: Prof. E. Symeonidou-Kastanidou, Dr. Yannis Naziris, PavlosAndreadis-Papadimitriou
Funding: European Union (Justice Program)
Unit: Department of Criminal Law and Criminology
The JUD-IT project aims at providing an in-depth comparative assessment of promising practices and practical and legal challenges in securing, requesting and obtaining digital information held by IT companies in the context of: first, the implementation of the EU flagship mutual recognition instrument on the exchange of evidence in criminal justice, the European Investigation Order (EIO); and second, the domestic use and applications of EU Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLATs) with third States like the USA and Japan.
It seeks to facilitate the identification of ways forward and policy recommendations for EU and national policy makers to promote judicial cooperation in criminal matters in a global context of increasing use of electronic means and data in line with EU rule law and fundamental rights standards. JUD-IT will secure the gathering of the best scientific evidence and practitioners experiences at times of identifying innovative ways forward in better ensuring effective and trust-based use of EU MLATs and EIO when having access to electronic information and using it as evidence in the EU Criminal Justice Area. It will allow for the setting up a new network of leading scholars and research centres across the EU, in close cooperation with a leading policy research think tank and a key civil society partner.
The project will facilitate the streamlining and mutual learning on the use of existing EU Member States practices and procedures. It will do so by deploying a set of specific methods and tasks, such as the development of a Handbook providing guidelines for practitioners and legal/judicial actors and dedicated training modules. It will equally implement inter-active participatory methods, which will chiefly take the shape of a Task Force aimed at achieving consensus-building and mutual learning among relevant judicial, legal, law enforcement and private sector actors and the identification of policy recommendations for EU and national policy makers.