National 24/7 point of contact which is a consultative, legal, technical support tool in the process of making queries in of legal aid within the framework of international cooperation has been established and launched in the Department of Investigation of Cybercrime and High Technology Crime of the RA Investigative Committee.

This decision has been made by the Committee of the Council of European Convention on Cybercrime with the help of the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The circumstance that the RA Investigative Committee took up the process of establishing national additional contact point back in 2017 has been taken into consideration. It was conditioned by the development of technologies, necessity to make queries within criminal proceedings more frequently, a requirement to introduce mechanisms for wider use of its opportunities and the fact that about 96% of the criminal proceedings in the RA is investigated in the RA Investigative Committee and the contact point operating in the specialized subdivision of the Police of the RA Ministry of Internal Affairs, always providing the necessary efficiency, still is running overloaded.

24/7 national contact points are the main means used in practice which give an opportunity to receive necessary information in a short time from the competent bodies of the states and companies providing internet services. The latter arises from the goals of Budapest’s European Convention on Cybercrime to provide international cooperation in the sphere of receiving electronic evidence within the framework of fight against crimes committed in the sphere of cybercrimes and high technologies as well as any proceeding.

Contact points of the convention operate in 67 states however Armenia is among the few states where two points operate.

The connection between the contact points is provided through the special Network introduced by the Council of Europe and the data of each other are available to its members. The Network is managed and coordinated by the Committee – the responsible unit of the Convention Operations Office of the Secretariat of the Council of Europe.

Budapest’s European Convention on Cybercrime adopted in 2001 was ratified by Armenia in 2007.

Convention’s Committee developed and submitted the 2nd Additional Protocol of the Convention for signature and ratification by the participating states through which more importance will be attached to the practical role and significance of the contact points.