Workshop on EU cyber diplomacy and international law

On 08 June, the EU Cyber Diplomacy Initiative – EU Cyber Direct, the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU, and the European External Action Service invited members of the EU’s Horizontal Working Party on Cyber Issues, Legal Experts, and officials to a workshop on EU cyber diplomacy and international law.

The aims of the workshop were to understand how both EU and other states view the application of international law in the cyber domain and how the various approaches to the applicability of international law at the UN level remain an arena for strengthening the framework for responsible state behaviour.

Participants were given a summary of the recent Tallinn Manual discussions as well as a general overview of the state of play at the Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG). Furthermore, the discussion recognised areas of achievable convergence of a common EU position on International Law in cyberspace, such as on the protection of democratic elections and healthcare services.

Boosting cyber capacity building was also acknowledged as a necessity to assist all states contribute to international and UN processes on cyber diplomacy.