Budapest Convention

Primarily known as the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime, the Budapest

Convention or the convention on cybercrime is the world’s first international treaty designed to
focus on increasing cybercrime. It came into the picture in 2001 and entered into force on July 1,
2004.

The treaty had three prime objectives, including the improvement in investigative techniques,
increase in the cooperation among nations, and lastly, harmonising national laws. Apart from
these, the participating countries needed to embrace legislation outlawing specified cyber-related
crimes along with several definite evidence-gathering rules.

The Council of Europe drew it in Strasbourg, France, and 64 countries that endorsed the
Budapest Convention on cybercrime. These countries include Canada, Japan, the Philippines,
South Africa, the United States, and others.

Some of the significant cyber offences that the Budapest Convention attended include illegal
access, data interference, illegal interception, misuse of devices, system interference, cyber
fraud, cyber forgery, offences in child pornography, and offences concerning neighbouring rights
and copyright.

Current Issues in the Budapest Convention

The Budapest Convention acts as a guideline for countries on their path to developing
comprehensive national legislation against cybercrime. However, as per the latest updates,
mainly all stakeholders said yes to the fact that for the upcoming digital age, the current form of
cross-border data sharing for law enforcement through the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty
(MLAT) is insufficient.

However, there is an ongoing debate regarding whether to develop an entirely new system for
cybercrimes or revamp the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT). Since its formation in
2001, the convention wanted India to be a part of it; however, India decided not to participate.

Budapest Convention Context with India

Since the beginning, India has successfully held its status high as a non-member of the Budapest
Convention led by Europe. Although, a controversy where India voted to set up a separate
convention favouring a Russian-led UN resolution is still prevalent. As per the reports released
by the IB or the Intelligence Bureau, sharing data with foreign law enforcement agencies violates
India’s national sovereignty.

Another argument that India strongly presented previously is that we are not ready to sign the
same since the Budapest convention treaty was drafted without its participation.
Russia-led Convention

In contrast to the Budapest Convention, Russia proposed to set up a separate convention

entitled “Countering the use of information and communications technologies for criminal
purposes” that was recently put forward in the UNGA, the United Nations General Assembly.

This proposal that India voted for calls for creating a new committee that will convene in New
York in August 2020. As per this treaty, the nation-states can coordinate and share data to the
prevailing cybercrime.

On the grounds of national sovereignty issues, China and Russia questioned the Budapest
Convention, resulting in forming the Russia-led Convention.

This convention goes beyond what the Budapest Convention offers regarding cross-border
access to data.

As a result, many countries like India started to support the Russia-led Convention and voted to
support the same. If the Russia-led Convention gets approved by the UNGA, it will be the
world’s second international treaty on cybercrime, followed by the Budapest Convention.

With considerable support, the Russia-led Convention has been criticised drastically, especially
by American entities and Several human rights groups.

Conclusion

With this, we end our discussion about the Budapest Convention, Russia-led Convention,
Budapest Convention India, and its importance in the IAS exam.