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 Protocol aimed at facilitating cooperation between the Parties and private entities is Article 6. When implemented into the domestic law of the Parties, Article 6 will provide a legal basis for competent authorities to request domain name registration information from entities providing domain name registration services in the territory of another Party.

This document analyses the toolbox which will be available to competent authorities under Article 6 of the Protocol, including the types of crime, data, and entities covered; requirements for requests under Article 6; and information regarding the enforceability of such requests.

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.