Ad hoc committee established by General Assembly resolution 74/247
Postponement of the organizational session of the ad hoc committee to 10-12 May 2021
Pursuant to the General Assembly decision entitled Ad Hoc Committee
to Elaborate a Comprehensive International Convention on Countering the Use of Information and Communications Technologies
for Criminal Purposes (A/75/L.55),
adopted as orally amended on 15 January 2021, the organizational session of the ad hoc committee was postponed from
20-22 January to 10-12 May 2021. Member States are hereby informed that the nomination of participants and tellers
for the election of officers and submission of proposals to the meeting previously scheduled on 20-22 January were accordingly
stopped. The invitation to and relevant arrangements of the meeting scheduled on 10-12 May will be circulated by the secretariat
in due course.
Preparatory work for the organizational session of the Ad Hoc Committee previously scheduled on 20-22 January
Important information: Organizational session of the Ad Hoc Committee
The organizational session of the ad hoc committee will be held on 20-22 January 2021 at the
United Nations Headquarters in New York, in conference rooms 1/2/3.
Registration: The eDelegate portal will not be used,
as it is being migrated to a new system. Member States are therefore kindly requested to register their delegates by sending
a Note Verbale to cybercrimeAHC@un.org containing names, titles and email addresses
of the delegates by Monday, 18 January 2021, at the latest.
Due to the restriction measures for containing the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the meeting
will be held in a limited in-person format with one delegate per delegation attending the meeting by presence in the meeting
room. While only one delegate from each delegation can be present in the meeting room at any given time, the delegation can
consist of more than one delegate if they wish to alternate their presence in the meeting.
Guidelines for proposals (draft resolutions and decisions) for consideration in the organizational session of the cybercrime
convention ad hoc Committee
Pursuant to rule 120 of the Rules of procedure of the General Assembly, proposals (draft resolution
and decisions) and amendments shall normally be submitted in writing to the Secretary-General, who shall circulate copies
to the delegations. As a general rule, no proposal shall be discussed or put to the vote at any meeting of the committee unless
copies of it have been circulated to all delegations not later than the day proceding the meeting. The Chair may, however,
permit the discussion and consideration of amendments, or of motions as to procedure, even though such amendments and motions
have not been circulated or have only been circulated the same day.
Given the specific circumstance in relation to the preparation for the organizational session
of the ad hoc Committee and time needed to have the proposals to be translated into all UN official languages, delegations
are required to submit the proposals via email to cybercrimeahc@un.org and pasquali@un.org
by Friday, 15 January 2021.
About the Ad hoc committee established by GA resolution 74/247
Through its resolution 74/247, adopted on 27
December 2019, the General Assembly, inter alia, took note of Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice
resolution 26/4 of 26
May 2017, in which the Commission expressed appreciation for the work done by the Expert
Group to Conduct a Comprehensive Study on Cybercrime and requested the Expert Group to continue its work, with a view
to examining options to strengthen existing responses and propose new national and international legal or other responses
to cybercrime, and in this regard reaffirmed the role of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
In the same resolution, the General Assembly decided to establish an open-ended ad
hoc intergovernmental committee of experts, representative of all regions, to elaborate a comprehensive international convention
on countering the use of information and communications technologies for criminal purposes, taking into full consideration
existing international instruments and efforts at the national, regional and international levels on combating the use of
information and communications technologies for criminal purposes, in particular the work and outcomes of the open-ended intergovernmental
Expert Group to Conduct a Comprehensive Study on Cybercrime
The General Assembly also decided that the ad hoc committee shall convene a three-day
organizational session in August 2020, in New York, in order to agree on an outline and modalities for its further activities,
to be submitted to the General Assembly at its seventy-fifth session for its consideration and approval.
Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the General Assembly decided through its decision
74/567 of 14 August 2020 to postpone the organizational session of ad hoc committee to a date as early as conditions permit
but not later than 1 March 2021.
UNODC, through the Organized Crime and Illicit Trafficking Branch, Division for Treaty Affairs,
will serve as Secretariat for the ad hoc committee and is supporting Member States in preparation for its three-day organizational
session.
Proposed outline and modalities for the further activities of the open-ended ad hoc intergovernmental
committee to elaborate a comprehensive international convention on countering the use of information and communications technologies
for criminal purposes. Background paper prepared by the Secretariat
Ad Hoc Committee to Elaborate a Comprehensive International Convention on Countering the Use of Information and Communications
Technologies for Criminal Purposes. Draft decision submitted by the President of the General Assembly* an adopted with new
symbol GA decision 74/567
Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly
Follow-up information in relation to the cybercrime ad hoc committee organizational session, pursuant to General Assembly
resolution 74/247. Status: 12 May 2020
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on the implementation of General Assembly resolution 74/247
Summary of information provided by the DTA Director, UNODC, at the informal meeting on 10 July 2020
Rolling text of the draft provisional agenda for the organizational session (Status: 17 July 2020)
Rolling text of the draft provisional agenda for the organizational session (Status: 22 July 2020)
Rolling text of a draft decision discussed at the informal meeting on 30 July 2020
