The Convention was drawn up by the Council of Europe which has 42 Member States. Representatives of 26 Member States signed the treaty on its opening day in Budapest. Canada, Japan, South Africa and the US, countries which also took part in the Convention’s drafting, also signed up. Other non-member States may also be invited by the Committee of Ministers to sign the treaty at a later date.
The following Member States signed the treaty: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Moldova, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, "the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia", Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
The Convention will come into force as soon as five states, at least three of which must be Council of Europe members, have ratified it. This requires them to make changes to their national laws to implement the Convention’s provisions.
The Convention deals in particular with offences related to infringements of copyright, computer-related fraud, child pornography and offences connected with network security. It also covers a series of procedural powers such as searches of and interception of material on computer networks.
Controversially, the Convention includes powers to preserve data, to search and seize, to collect traffic data and to intercept communications. In answer to criticism from privacy advocates, Guy De Vel, Director General of Legal Affairs at the Council of Europe, commented, "the text covers only specific criminal investigations, and certainly does not lend itself to the setting up of an Orwellian-style general electronic surveillance system".
The Convention’s main aim, according to its wording, is to pursue "a common criminal policy aimed at the protection of society against cybercrime […] by adopting appropriate legislation and fostering international co-operation."
It will have an Additional Protocol making it a criminal offence to disseminate racist or xenophobic propaganda via computer networks. The drafting of this Additional Protocol will begin in December 2001.