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Migration and Home Affairs
News article2 July 2021

Third report of the Observatory Function on encryption

Today, Europol and Eurojust published the third report of the Joint Observatory Function on encryption.

This yearly report forms part of the six practical measures announced in the 11th progress report towards an effective and genuine Security Union, aimed at assisting law enforcement and the judiciary to overcome challenges posed by encryption in the context of criminal investigations and prosecution. This product builds on previous reports to provide a comprehensive analysis of the technical and legislative developments, and new challenges and good practices relating to encryption in criminal investigations. The report presents for the first time key policy developments on encryption in regions and countries around the world to provide a comprehensive understanding of the interactions between these technical, legislative and policy developments in this area. The report focuses on:

  1. What are the legislative frameworks of EU Member States handling encryption in criminal investigations?
  2. What are the challenges faced by law enforcement and judicial authorities to lawfully intercept communications and gather evidence for criminal investigations?
  3. What are the policy developments influencing and shaping the debate on encryption?

 

For more information:

Third report of the observatory function on encryption

Web page on encryption

 

Previous reports of the observatory function:

First report of the observatory function on encryption

Second report of the observatory function on encryption

Details

Publication date
2 July 2021