In January 2025, Europol and Eurojust launched the third phase of the SIRIUS project, an initiative to support national law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and judicial authorities (JAs) in the field of electronic evidence (for the last SIRIUS Report →eucrim 4/2024, 293-294).

New EU-wide legislation (such as the EU Electronic Evidence legislative package →eucrim 2/2023-165-168), together with key international agreements (such as the Second Additional Protocol to the Budapest Convention [→eucrim 2/2022, 128] and the agreed draft text for a UN Convention on Cybercrime), are reshaping the legal and operational landscape surrounding electronic evidence. Therefore, Phase 3 of the SIRIUS project will continue to support LEAs, JAs, and service providers in navigating the increasingly complex legal framework by providing a range of services such as guidance, training, and tools to help access data held by service providers.

Over the next several years, project activities will include the development of investigative tools, the organisation of high-impact events, and expanded capacity building to meet the urgent needs of LEAs and JAs. Geographically, the third phase of the SIRIUS project aims to strengthen cooperation between EU and non-EU countries that are of particular importance for the implementation of the new legislation.