The common need to collect, preserve, and present electronic evidence in ways that best ensure and reflect their integrity and irrefutable authenticity, both for the purposes of domestic prosecution and international co-operation.
Procedures and technical methods for handling electronic evidence should be further developed, and particularly in such a way as to ensure their compatability between states. Criminal procedural law provisions on evidence relating to tradition documents should similarly apply to data stored in a computer system.
The power to extend a search to other computer systems should also be applicable when the system is located in a foreign jurisdiction, provided that immediate action is required. In order to avoid possible violations of state sovereignity or international law, an unambigious legal basis for such extended search and seizure should be established. Therefore, there is an urgent need for negotiating international agreements as to how, when and to what extent such search and seizure should be permitted.