The Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime is an international treaty that provides signatory states with legal tools to help in the investigation and prosecution of computer crime, including Internet-based crime, and crime involving electronic evidence. As a permanent observer to the Council of Europe, Canada was invited to participate in the negotiation of the convention. Generally known as the Budapest Convention, the treaty is the only widely recognized attempt to deal with cybercrime issues and contains the most widely accepted typology of cybercrime.
The Budapest Convention calls for the criminalization of certain offences relating to computers, the adoption of procedural powers for investigating and prosecuting cybercrime, and the promotion of international cooperation through mutual legal assistance and extradition in a criminal realm that knows no borders.
The Budapest Convention will help Canada and its partners fight crimes committed against the integrity, availability and confidentiality of computer systems and telecommunications networks. The convention will also help in the fight against criminal activities—such as online fraud and the distribution of child pornography over the Internet—that use such networks to commit traditional offences.
