(1)

The objective of this Framework Decision is to improve cooperation between judicial and other competent authorities, including the police and other specialised law enforcement services of the Member States, through approximating rules on criminal law in the Member States in the area of attacks against information systems.

(2)

There is evidence of attacks against information systems, in particular as a result of the threat from organised crime, and increasing concern at the potential of terrorist attacks against information systems which form part of the critical infrastructure of the Member States. This constitutes a threat to the achievement of a safer information society and an area of freedom, security and justice, and therefore requires a response at the level of the European Union.

(3)

An effective response to those threats requires a comprehensive approach to network and information security, as underlined in the eEurope Action Plan, in the Communication by the Commission ‘Network and Information Security: Proposal for a European Policy Approach’ and in the Council Resolution of 28 January 2002 on a common approach and specific actions in the area of network and information security (2).

(4)

The need to further increase awareness of the problems related to information security and provide practical assistance has also been stressed in the European Parliament Resolution of 5 September 2001.

(5)

Significant gaps and differences in Member States’ laws in this area may hamper the fight against organised crime and terrorism, and may complicate effective police and judicial cooperation in the area of attacks against information systems. The transnational and borderless character of modern information systems means that attacks against such systems are often trans-border in nature, thus underlining the urgent need for further action to approximate criminal laws in this area.

(6)

The Action Plan of the Council and the Commission on how to best implement the provisions of the Treaty of Amsterdam on an area of freedom, security and justice (3), the Tampere European Council on 15 to 16 October 1999, the Santa Maria da Feira European Council on 19 to 20 June 2000, the Commission in the ‘Scoreboard’ and the European Parliament in its Resolution of 19 May 2000 indicate or call for legislative action against high technology crime, including common definitions, incriminations and sanctions.

(7)

It is necessary to complement the work performed by international organisations, in particular the Council of Europe’s work on approximating criminal law and the G8’s work on transnational cooperation in the area of high tech crime, by providing a common approach in the European Union in this area. This call was further elaborated by the Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on ‘Creating a Safer Information Society by Improving the Security of Information Infrastructures and Combating Computer-related Crime’.

(8)

Criminal law in the area of attacks against information systems should be approximated in order to ensure the greatest possible police and judicial cooperation in the area of criminal offences related to attacks against information systems, and to contribute to the fight against organised crime and terrorism.

(9)

All Member States have ratified the Council of Europe Convention of 28 January 1981 for the protection of individuals with regard to automatic processing of personal data. The personal data processed in the context of the implementation of this Framework Decision should be protected in accordance with the principles of the said Convention.

(10)

Common definitions in this area, particularly of information systems and computer data, are important to ensure a consistent approach in Member States in the application of this Framework Decision.

(11)

There is a need to achieve a common approach to the constituent elements of criminal offences by providing for common offences of illegal access to an information system, illegal system interference and illegal data interference.

(12)

In the interest of combating computer-related crime, each Member State should ensure effective judicial cooperation in respect of offences based on the types of conduct referred to in Articles 2, 3, 4 and 5.

(13)

There is a need to avoid over-criminalisation, particularly of minor cases, as well as a need to avoid criminalising right-holders and authorised persons.

(14)

There is a need for Member States to provide for penalties for attacks against information systems. The penalties thus provided for shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.

(15)

It is appropriate to provide for more severe penalties when an attack against an information system is committed within the framework of a criminal organisation, as defined in the Joint Action 98/733 JHA of 21 December 1998 on making it a criminal offence to participate in a criminal organisation in the Member State of the European Union (4). It is also appropriate to provide for more severe penalties where such an attack has caused serious damages or has affected essential interests.

(16)

Measures should also be foreseen for the purposes of cooperation between Member States with a view to ensuring effective action against attacks against information systems. Member States should therefore make use of the existing network of operational contact points referred to in the Council Recommendation of 25 June 2001 on contact points maintaining a 24-hour service for combating high-tech crime (5), for the exchange of information.

(17)

Since the objectives of this Framework Decision, ensuring that attacks against information systems be sanctioned in all Member States by effective, proportionate and dissuasive criminal penalties and improving and encouraging judicial cooperation by removing potential complications, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, as rules have to be common and compatible, and can therefore be better achieved at the level of the Union, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the EC Treaty. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Framework Decision does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve those objectives.

(18)

This Framework Decision respects the fundamental rights and observes the principles recognised by Article 6 of the Treaty on European Union and reflected in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and notably Chapters II and VI thereof,

(a)

‘information system’ means any device or group of inter-connected or related devices, one or more of which, pursuant to a program, performs automatic processing of computer data, as well as computer data stored, processed, retrieved or transmitted by them for the purposes of their operation, use, protection and maintenance;

(b)

‘computer data’ means any representation of facts, information or concepts in a form suitable for processing in an information system, including a program suitable for causing an information system to perform a function;

(c)

‘legal person’ means any entity having such status under the applicable law, except for States or other public bodies in the exercise of State authority and for public international organisations;

(d)

‘without right’ means access or interference not authorised by the owner, other right holder of the system or part of it, or not permitted under the national legislation.