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In recent years, increase of cybercrimes is noticed, in terms of effectively fight against cross-border crime and this crime are often growing the inter-state cooperation is important. The RA Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Arpine Sargsyan said this.

The RA Government proposes addenda and amendments in the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes and a number of enclosed laws. The issue was debated at the sitting of the NA Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs.

It was noted that in practice a problem arises in identifying the cybercrimes. “Among the public there is confusion that what happens on the internet or by using the internet is a crime. We should disperse that confusion, because the cybercrime has a distinct subject, distinct object, and we should not observe all crimes as cybercrime by using internet,” the Deputy Minister specified.

It is proposed to define the list of cybercrimes in a separate supplement, which will give an opportunity to clearly identify the cybercrime at inter-state and inner-state level. The list stems from the international obligations of the Republic of Armenia. They are crimes designed by the Budapest Convention.

The next amendment refers to the criminal-judicial procedures. According to Arpine Sargsyan, there is an internationally adopted approach for classifying different internet data: subscription, transfer and content data. They should be given a guarantee level in the form of prosecutorial and judicial control, but our legislation does not differentiate those data. Accordingly, it is proposed to clearly separate these three group data in the Criminal Procedure Code.

It is proposed to receive the IP address in the framework of the judicial control.

It is designed to specify the notion crypto active. The Deputy Minister informed that by the received data the incomes received from the crime activity by preliminary data of crypto active exceed 5 million USD, and in 2023, 249 crimes were recorded by the use of the crypto actives.

In the co-report Lilit Minasyan referred to the regulations in the crypto currency sphere, the dangers of their circulation. Speaking about the crimes by the use crypto currencies, the MP opined that it is impossible to control by the identification in currency exchange points or only by non-cash payment. The rapporteur proposed he colleagues to vote for it and debate the concerning problems from the first to the second reading.

The MPs’ questions related to the sanctions designed for the crimes by the use of the crypto actives, the opportunity of other solutions to the law on Cyber Security, the disputable problems and risks arising in the exchange points and banking system. The Deputy Minister touched upon the questions and expressed readiness to hold work debate during the period from the first to the second reading on the issues under debate.

The issue was endorsed by the Standing Committee on State and Legal Affairs.