Актуализираната наказателноправна уредба на Европейския съюз за противодействие на компютърната престъпност
The Updated EU Criminal Law Regulation for Counteraction against Computer Crime

Summary/Abstract: The criminal law regulation of the EU for counteraction against computer crime was updated through Directive 2013/40/ЕU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 August 2013 on attacks against information systems and replacing Council Framework Decision 2005/222/JHA of the Council, in force as of 3 September 2013. This updating was awaited with particular interest as the former regulation needed to be supplemented and improved. The study provides grounds for arguing that the updating cannot be assessed unequivocally. On the one hand, a positive assessment should be given to: the identification of a new type of criminal offence – the illegal interception of non-public computer data; the specification of illustrative content for determining what constitutes “a minor case” of computer crime; the recommendation on the Member States’ establishment of their national jurisdiction over those criminal law offences which are committed by persons having their habitual residence in the territory of the respective Member State; as well as the fact that the content of the Directive was approved with the EU legislator’s ambition – considering the achievements of international criminal law – to further develop and improve these achievements. On the other hand, no support can be given to: the ongoing use of various terms for denoting computer crime; the retreat from the ultima ratio principle when setting the limits within which computer offences should be criminalized; the imprecision in formulating the new features of crimes – illegal interference with an information system and illegal interference with computer data; the misconceptions present in the differentiation of criminal liability. The aforesaid allows for the conclusion that the Directive does not contribute sufficiently to the improvement of computer crime regulation in the national criminal laws of the Member States.

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