The Council of the European Union adopted the EU Law Enforcement Emergency Response Protocol that gives a central role to Europol's European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) to support EU law enforcement authorities in providing response to cross-border cyber incidents of a suspected criminal nature.
The protocol determines the procedures, roles, and responsibilities of key agencies and players; promotes rapid assessment of cyber threats; secure and timely sharing of critical information through special communication channels and points of contact; as well as co-ordination of cross-border investigations. It aims to complement the EU's crisis management processes by streamlining transnational co-operation and enabling collaboration with network security community and partners from the private sector.