Legal Aspects of the EncroChat Operation: A Human Rights Perspective

Abstract

In the EncroChat operation, French law enforcement authorities collected over 120 million messages from 60.000 EncroChat users. They cooperated with Dutch law enforcement authorities and Europol in a Joint Investigation Team. In the Netherlands, EncroChat data has already been used in over 200 criminal cases. This article examines what lessons can be learned from the Dutch experience with the EncroChat operation from a human rights perspective, in particular the right to a fair trial.