Recital 6

The resolution of the European Parliament of 3 October 2017 on the fight against cybercrime ⁽³⁾ underlined the need to find means to secure and obtain electronic evidence more rapidly, as well as the importance of close cooperation between law enforcement authorities, third countries and service providers active on European territory, in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁽⁴⁾ and Directive (EU) 2016/680 of the European Parliament and of the Council ⁽⁵⁾, and existing mutual legal assistance agreements. That resolution of the European Parliament also highlighted that the currently fragmented legal framework can create challenges for service providers seeking to comply with law enforcement requests and called on the Commission to put forward a Union legal framework for electronic evidence with sufficient safeguards for the rights and freedoms of all concerned, while welcoming the ongoing work of the Commission towards a cooperation platform with a secure communication channel for digital exchanges of European Investigation Orders (EIOs) for electronic evidence and replies between Union judicial authorities.