Final Conference

Summary

‘EVIDENCE - European Informatics Data Exchange Framework for Courts and Evidence’ Project aims at providing a Road Map (guidelines, recommendations, and technical standards) for realising the missing Common European Framework for the systematic and uniform application of new technologies in the collection, use and exchange of evidence. This Road Map would enable policy makers to realize an efficient regulation, treatment and exchange of digital evidence; and law enforcement agencies (LEAs) as well as judges/magistrates and prosecutors and lawyers practising in the criminal field to have at their disposal as legal/technological background a Common European Framework allowing them to gather, use and exchange digital evidences according to common standards and rules. EVIDENCE Project’s activities have enabled the implementation of a stable network of experts in digital forensics communicating and exchanging their opinions. The first ‘EVIDENCE Annual Conference: Digital Evidence Trends and Perspectives’ of the EVIDENCE Project is focused on bringing together different stakeholders in this network – including policy makers, LEAs, associations of judges/bars, prosecutors, lawyers, forensic experts and forensic associations, governmental organisations, civil society and academics – to collectively share knowledge and experience, think together about issues, decision-making, and practices, and develop recommended ways forward on the issues of digital evidence.

Aware that the field of digital evidence is ever-changing and that the technical possibilities are constantly developed allowing for new technical/legal solutions, part of the EVIDENCE’s task is to work on considering a number of possible (legal) solutions to ensure that effective criminal investigation can take place and that European values and fundamental human rights can be properly respected. The main objective of this first EVIDENCE Annual Conference is the consultation of a Road Map outlining a desirable future technological, legal and institutional framework for the continuous development in the domain of digital evidence.

The various Work Packages (WPs) of the EVIDENCE project researched the legal, standard, technical, law enforcement, and market and data protection status quo as regards the collection, preservation, use and exchange of electronic evidence and identified the challenges and shortcomings thereof. Based on the findings of the project and in particular on the challenges and shortcomings, WP9 ‘Preparing a Road Map for a Common European Framework’ Team is working on producing a Roadmap for realising the missing Common European Framework. The Team had identified the actions that need to be taken for the introduction of a new technical standard on the legal, political, technical, ethical and social perspectives level. The actions include legal, political, technical, ethical and social action, LEA action and professionalization in the field of digital forensics and further research. Based on these actions this Road Map Implementation Plan was drafted as a basis for the Road Map in order to introduce and prioritise the actions needed to enable a more efficient platform for the application of new technologies in the collection, preservation, use and exchange of electronic evidence.

All of these aspects have been incorporated within the respective sessions of the EVIDENCE Conference involving as different expertise and perspectives as possible; and the Road Map Implementation Plan has been discussed in details during the final session of the event.

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Agenda

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Venue & Accomodation

The EVIDENCE Final Conference will be held in the premises of the Hotel NH Den Haag, Pr. Margrietplantsoen 100, 2595 BR Den Haag, Netherlands.

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Travel

The Hotel NH Den Haag is located at Pr. Margrietplantsoen 100, 2595 BR Den Haag, Netherlands (you contact the hotel directly via +31 70 381 2345).

• 2.85 km away from Den Haag city centre
• 1.57 km away from Central Rail Station Den Haag
• 2.76 km away from Binnenhof
• 2.61 km away from De Tweedekamer

If you are comming by plane:

• From Schiphol Airport, take the train to Den Haag Central Station. At the station, change onto the tram (Randstarail), either line 3 (towards Zoetermeer Centrum-West) or 4 (towards Javalaan), and get out at the first stop (Beatrixkwartier) to reach the hotel. The trip takes an hour. You can also catch a taxi from the station which takes less than 45 minutes.
• From Rotterdam/The Hague Airport, you can take bus 50 towards Rotterdam. Get off at Meijersplein Station and switch onto the E tram towards The Hague. Get off at the Laan van NOI stop and hotel will be just a seven-minute walk away.

If you are comming by train:

• You can also catch a taxi from the station which costs about € 10.00 and takes around 10 minutes; or you can take tram lines (Randstadrail) 3 (towards Zoetermeer Centrum/West) or 4 (towards Javalaan) and get off at the first stop (Beatrixkwartier).

If you are comming by car (for GPS navigation, please enter Prinses Marijke straat):

• A4 Amsterdam - The Hague:
  • Head south on the A4 towards Den Haag.
  • Take exit 8-Leidschendam onto the E30/A12 towards Den Haag/Zoetermeer/Utrecht
  • Merge onto the A12 and continue for 3.1 km.
  • Take exit 3-Bezuidenhout towards Mariehoeve. 
  • After 400 m (you will see the hotel in the distance), turn right onto Schenkkade
  • Continue along Schenkkade for 250 m and then make a U-turn via Wilhelmina van Pruisenweg onto Prinses Margrietplantsoen.
  • You will see the hotel 70 m further along on your right 
• A13 Rotterdam - The Hague:
  • Head north on the A13 and then take the exit onto E30 towards Den Haag/Utrecht
  • After 3.1 km on the E30, follow the signs to Voorburg/Den Haag/A12 and merge onto the A12.
  • Take exit 3-Bezuidenhout towards Mariehoeve. 
  • After 400m (you will see the hotel at the end of the at the end of the exit ramp) turn right onto Schenkkade
  • Continue along Schenkkade for 250m and then make a U-turn via Wilhelmina van Pruisenweg onto Prinses Margrietplantsoen.
  • You will see the hotel 70 m further along on your right
• A12 Utrecht - The Hague:
  • Head west on the A12 towards Den Haag, follow the 12a-Bodegraven exits and stay on A12.
  • From Bodegraven, continue along the A12 for 32.9 km and then take exit 3-Bezuidenhout towards Mariahoeve
  • After 400 m (you will see the hotel at the end of the exit ramp) turn right onto Schenkkade
  • Follow Schenkkade for 250 m and then make a U-turn via Wilhelmina van Pruisenweg onto Prinses Margrietplantsoen.
  • You will see the hotel 70 m further along on your right

If you don't find the needed information here, please check the hotel's website for further references.

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Resources

• ‘The EVIDENCE Story’ (Opening Session) by Maria Angela Biasiotti, CNR-ITTIG, Coordinator of the EVIDENCE Project (Italy), Jeanne Mifsud Bonnici, University of Groningen, Deputy Coordinator of the EVIDENCE Project (Netherlands)
• ‘Secure the Evidence for a Court Trial’ by Dominique Renard, Direction Centrale de la Police Judiciaire (France)
• ‘Electronic Evidence Gathering Abroad: Some Crucial Issues’ by Teresa Magno, Judge, Ministry of Justice (Italy)
• ‘Electronic Evidence: Always a Next Step’ by Eirik Trønnes Hansen, National Criminal Investigation Service (Norway)
• ‘Digital Evidence in the Context of EUROJUST and Joint Investigative Teams’ by Xavier Tracol, Senior Legal Officer, EUROJUST
• Presentation on Building Bridges by Sabine Berghs, Legal Officer, INTERPOL
• ‘Building Bridges between Different Actors: Are We Bridge Builders Then?’ by Philippe Van Linthout, Investigating Judge, Court of First Instance Antwerp, Mechelen Section (Belgium)
• ‘Introduction on Privacy, Data Protection and International Law Dimensions of Evidence’ by Christian M. Hawellek, Institute for Legal Informatics, Leibniz Universität Hannover (Germany)
• ‘Terror Won’t Kill the Privacy Star’ by Jan Ellermann, Senior Expert, Data Protection Office, EUROPOL
• ‘Privacy, Data Protection and International Law Dimensions of Evidence’ by Giuseppe Vaciago, Criminal Lawyer, Partner at R&P Legal and Expert on Digital Forensics (Italy)
• Presentation on Certification and Professionalization by Sabine Berghs, Associate Legal Officer, INTERPOL, and Mattia Epifani, CNR-ITTIG (Italy)
• ‘Digital Forensics and Cybercrime TRAINING’ by Yves Vandermeer, IT Forensics Trainer, Federal Computer Crime Unit (FCCU), Belgium and Chairman, European Cybercrime Training and Education Group (ECTEG)
• ‘Background and Criteria for Digital Forensics Experts’ by Michel Smithuis, Director, The Netherlands Register of Court Experts (Netherlands)
• ‘Linkage Blindness: Challenges & Solutions. Combined Operations & Unified Analysis’ by Eoghan Casey, School of Criminal Sciences, University of Lausanne (Switzerland)
• ‘Digital Forensic: Tools Catalogue and Method Validation’ by Fabrizio Turchi, CNR-ITTIG (Italy)
• Presentation on Setting Standards for Representing and Exchanging Evidence by Mattia Epifani, CNR-ITTIG (Italy)
• PoC Presentation by Nikolaos Matsakanis, CETIC (Belgium)
• ‘Cyber-investigation Analysis Standard Expression (CASE). Pull it together!’ by Eoghan Casey, School of Criminal Sciences, University of Lausanne (Switzerland)
• ‘A Practitioner Point of View’ by Francesco Picasso, Reality Net System Solutions (Italy)
• ‘Roadmap and Actors. Where do we go from here?’  by Jeanne Mifsud Bonnici, University of Groningen (Netherlands)
• ‘e-CODEX. e-Justice Communication via Online Data Exchange’ by  Carsten Schmidt, Ministry of Justice of North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany)

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Registration