Compare legal and technical approaches to digital evidence across European jurisdictions.
European Digital Evidence Network
Building shared understanding of digital evidence
A European network connecting law, forensic science and criminal justice practice.
EDEN is a proposal for interdisciplinary cooperation on how digital evidence is identified, handled and assessed across European jurisdictions.
The initiative
About EDEN
Digital evidence often crosses borders, while the legal rules and technical practices used to evaluate it differ between jurisdictions.
The European Digital Evidence Network (EDEN) proposes a sustained forum for legal scholars, judges, prosecutors, defence practitioners, forensic scientists and technologists to compare approaches and exchange expertise.
The proposal focuses on the relationship between the reliability of digital evidence and the procedural safeguards that protect the rights of everyone involved in criminal proceedings.
Purpose
Objectives
Identify differences, challenges and practices that can inform more consistent procedures.
Examine how procedural rules and technical standards support integrity and authentication.
Support knowledge exchange and capacity building for justice and forensic professionals.
Develop shared principles and recommendations for cross-border cooperation.
Research themes
Work areas
Legal categories and definitions
How jurisdictions classify digital evidence, including metadata, cloud-stored material and live data.
Safeguards and admissibility
Procedural protections, admissibility standards, due process and defence rights.
Cross-border access and cooperation
Legal mechanisms and practical challenges when evidence or service providers span jurisdictions.
Forensic integrity and reliability
Chain of custody, validation, reproducibility and the assessment of forensic methods.
Training and knowledge exchange
Capacity building and the exchange of knowledge among judicial, legal and technical communities.
If developed
Planned outputs
- Comparative resourceA repository mapping national frameworks and practices.
- HandbookA comparative guide to admissibility and procedural safeguards.
- Technical guidanceA cross-disciplinary paper on integrity and forensic reliability.
- Model provisionsRecommendations to support discussion of European alignment.
- Training materialsToolkits and learning modules for practitioners.
- Network exchangeWorkshops and dissemination activities across the participating community.
People
Members
Name
Academic position
Name
Academic position
Name
Academic position
Coordination
Host institution
PROBATICIUS
The proposal identifies PROBATICIUS – Red Internacional de Jóvenes Juristas en Derecho Probatorio, a Spain-based non-profit organisation focused on research, dialogue and innovation in evidentiary law, as its host institution.