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European Production Order (EPO)

Definition

A court order issued by a judicial authority in one EU member state, under Regulation (EU) 2023/1543, compelling a service provider in another member state to produce electronic evidence within ten days, or eight hours in emergency cases. The EPO replaces the MLAT process for intra-EU cross-border evidence requests.

Related terms

Chain of custody
The documented chronological record of who collected, handled, transferred, and examined a piece of evidence. For digital evidence, chain of custody includes...
CLOUD Act
The Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act (US, 2018). Clarifies that US service providers must comply with valid US legal process...
Dual criminality
The requirement in most MLAT regimes that the conduct under investigation constitutes a crime in both the requesting and the requested state....
Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT)
A bilateral or multilateral treaty under which signatory states agree to assist each other in gathering evidence for criminal investigations. MLATs define...
Preservation order
A legal instrument directing a service provider to retain specific data for a defined period pending receipt of a production order or...

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