With this Communication, the Commission for the first time outlines its policy orientations in this field and initiates an on-line public consultation for two months.
The Commission has said it is now essential to make information and communication infrastructures more secure and to reinforce safety and confidence in the information society. It observes that these infrastructures can also offer new opportunities for criminal activities, which may take a large variety of forms and cross many borders.
Mr Erkki Liikanen, Member of the European Commission for Enterprise and the Information Society today said:-
"The freedom of internet, the source of its very success, has to be preserved. The fact also is: no security, no trust, no transactions. All the impressive forecasts we have seen regarding the growth of electronic commerce will remain a pie in the sky if people can not have trust on electronic transactions.”
Some steps have already been taken by Europe to fight harmful and illegal content on the internet, to protect intellectual property and personal data, to promote electronic commerce and the use of electronic signatures and to enhance the security of transactions.
In October 1999, at the Tampere Summit of the European Council, it was decided to agree on common definitions and sanctions for computer-related crimes. The European Parliament has also called for commonly acceptable definitions of computer-related offences and for effective approximation of legislation, in particular in substantive criminal law.
The Council of the European Union has adopted a Common Position on the Council of Europe cybercrime convention negotiations and has adopted a number of initial elements as part of the Union's strategy against high-tech crime.
First, legislative proposals include the approximation of Member States' laws, further to a proposal relating to child pornography offences. The latter is part of a package covering wider issues associated with the sexual exploitation of children and trafficking in human beings, which the Commission adopted recently.
The Commission in the longer term will bring forward proposals for a further approximation of substantive criminal law in the area of high-tech crime, including offences related to hacking and denial of service attacks. The Commission will also examine the scope for action against racism and xenophobia on the Internet with a view to bringing forward a proposal covering both "off-line" and "on-line" racist and xenophobic activity.
Second, the Communication suggests a series of non-legislative proposals to encourage awareness and training among various information security actors. These proposals include the creation of an EU Forum with the participation of representatives from law enforcement agencies, service providers, network operators, consumer groups and data protection authorities. This Forum will aim to enhance co-operation at EU level, to raise public awareness on the risks posed by criminals on the Internet and to promote best practices for IT security. Among other proposals the Communications also insist on the need to support the training of law enforcement staff on high-tech crime issues via existing Commission programmes.
The text of the Commission Communication, “Creating a Safer Information Society by Improving the Security of Information Infrastructures and Combating Computer-related Crime”
Comments by any interested parties should be made by 23rd March 2001 to: [email protected]
The European Commission will also organise a public hearing of interested parties on the issues addressed in the Communication. This hearing will take place on 7th March 2001. Requests for an invitation to submit a statement at this hearing may be sent up to 20 February 2001 via e-mail: [email protected]