Access to telecommunication data is an essential and powerful investigative tool in criminal
justice. At the same time the interception of such data can seriously affect individual
privacy. This is true not only with respect to content data but also with respect to traffic
data. The legal instruments and provisions that allow the gathering of these data are primarily
the traditional rules on the interception of telecommunication based on the cooperation duties
of telecommunication providers. In addition access to telecommunication data can also be
granted by rules on remote forensic software by search and seizure of - temporarily or
permanently - stored data and (especially in cases of traffic and subscriber data) by
production orders demanding the delivery of stored data. The rules governing these interception
techniques vary considerably among the national legal orders. These differences are not only
most interesting from the perspective of fundamental research in the area of comparative
criminal law but also for practical reasons such as identifying best practices and evaluating
the scope of international cooperation. This publication provides a comparative analysis
dealing with the commonalities and differences of these rules on interception and other means
of access to telecommunication data. It also includes country reports on the following legal
orders which form the basis of this comparison: Australia Austria Belgium Croatia the
Czech Republic Estonia France Germany Hungary Italy the Netherlands Poland Portugal
Sweden Spain the United Kingdom and the Untited States of America.
