International Legal Mechanisms and Cooperation in the Field of Forensic Computer-Technical Expertise

The article examines the international legal mechanisms that govern cooperation in the field of digital forensics. It is argued that the transnational and volatile nature of digital evidence makes international cooperation an indispensable condition for the effectiveness of such examinations. The author analyses the procedural provisions of the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime and its Second Additional Protocol, the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime of 2024, the Minsk Convention of 1993, the cooperation framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the European Union rules on electronic evidence, as well as the ISO/IEC standards and the best-practice guidelines of ENFSI and INTERPOL. The degree to which these mechanisms are reflected in the legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan is assessed, and the principal obstacles to cross-border cooperation jurisdictional uncertainty, delays in mutual legal assistance, encryption, data localization and methodological divergence - are identified. On this basis, proposals are formulated for improving national legislation, institutional arrangements and expert practice.