OSCE supports Central Asian participating States in improving cross-border access to electronic evidence

The OSCE Transnational Threats Department (TNTD), in close co-operation with field operations, continues to help Central Asian participating States strengthen their legal and operational frameworks for requesting and handling electronic evidence across borders.

Under its extrabudgetary project E-VIDENCE, the TNTD held a series of follow-up missions and expert meetings in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan in September and October 2025. The discussions focused on putting recommendations from the needs assessment missions into practice, streamlining procedures for mutual legal assistance and developing model guidelines for requesting data from foreign internet service providers — all while ensuring full respect for human rights and the rule of law.

Participants, including representatives of law enforcement, the judiciary, parliaments and academia highlighted the need for stronger training, judicial oversight and privacy safeguards in digital investigations.

“Electronic evidence plays a role in approximately 85 per cent of criminal investigations worldwide. More than half of these cases require cross-border requests, and nearly two-thirds involve service providers located abroad. Without efficient mechanisms to obtain such data, justice cannot be delivered in a timely, fair and human rights-respecting manner”, stated Ambassador Monika Lenhard of the Federal Republic of Germany to Kyrgyzstan during the second expert-level meeting in Kyrgyzstan on 16 October.

According to statement made by the Ambassador Nico Schermers of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Central Asia during the follow-up mission in Kazakhstan on 23 September, “protecting fundamental rights and freedoms, both internationally and at home, is the best guarantee to fight terrorism and address radicalization effectively.  Strengthening ​​the rule of law is the only way to systematically enshrine this protection into societies. By aligning national legislation with international legal frameworks that safeguard human rights and the rule of law, the project E-VIDENCE ensures that states are able to exchange electronic evidence efficiently, effectively and responsibly, adapting our joint combat against terrorism to the realities of today’s digital world.”

Concrete progress is already visible:

• Kyrgyzstan is drafting a Law on Digital Evidence to regulate cross-border data requests.
• Kazakhstan is preparing to join the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime.
• Turkmenistan is introducing electronic evidence into its legal framework.
• Tajikistan is reassessing its existing approaches to access electronic evidence in foreign jurisdictions

These advances mark an important step toward modern, human rights-based criminal justice systems across the region.

The efforts will continue at a Central Asian regional seminar in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on 12–13 November, organized by TNTD and the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan, which will bring together government, experts and tech sector representatives to discuss shared challenges and opportunities in cross-border requests for electronic evidence.

The E-VIDENCE project, supported by Germany and the Netherlands, is an extrabudgetary initiative that aims to strengthen national and regional capacities to request electronic evidence for investigating online crimes, including terrorism, while upholding international standards and human rights.