CSTO PA recommendations to counter information-related offences is the foundation of ensuring security of individuals, society and the state

Recommendations on the Improvement of the CSTO Member States’ Criminal Legislation in the Area of Countering Information-Related Offences were developed by the Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation according to the 2016–2020 CSTO PA Action Plan on Approximation and Harmonization of National Legislation of the CSTO Member States and were adopted by the Decision of the Parliamentary Assembly on October 13, 2017.
In the current socio-political environment with its numerous interstate integration processes, criminal law to a certain extent is also involved in these relations, providing adequate protection of the values recognized as such by the states that are members of a particular association.
The Collective Security Treaty Organization is no exception. Its legal nature is a regional military alliance with some extended powers, which follows from the provisions of Article 3 of the Charter of the Collective Security Treaty Organization that states, “The goals of the Organization shall be strengthening of peace, international and regional security and stability, protection of independence on a collective basis, territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Member States.”
Any such alliance is a multifaceted organization, but it can be imagined as a complex information system to share information of various degrees of importance, and the current situation requires this information sharing to be as fast as possible.
However, the transfer of information is one half of the task; the other half is its adequate protection, including the protection of the transmission and storage systems, which are nowadays mostly automated. For example, Article 7 of the Agreement on the Basic Principles of Military-Technical Cooperation between the State Parties to the Collective Security Treaty of May 15, 1992 states, “The Parties shall ensure the protection of information received during the implementation of this Agreement, which, in accordance with the national legislation of the Parties, constitute state secrets.”
There will be a separate post on the model legislation governing state secrets, and perhaps more than one, but for now let us look at Section II of the Recommendations: Criminal Law Protection of Information Processed and Stored in Automated Systems (Computer Information).
The Recommendations provide a detailed and multifaceted analysis of the CSTO States’ legislation on countering information-related offences, in particular, unauthorized access to computer information, creation, use and distribution of malware, abuse of computer systems leading to certain negative consequences, illegal distribution of electronic information resources containing citizens’ personal data or other information, access to which is restricted by law, etc.
And it concludes that, in spite of formal resemblance, the norms of criminal law regulating important information relations relevant to the functioning of the CSTO require further harmonization.
A model legislative act containing a separate chapter for the criminal legislation of the CSTO Member States whose provisions could subsequently be implemented in the existing criminal codes of these states would help achieve this goal. This work was continued with the adoption on November 5, 2019 of the Recommendation List of Corpus Delicti and Administrative Offences in the Field of Ensuring the Information Security of Individuals, Society and the State for the CSTO Member States. Work on model legislative acts regulating relations in the area of computer security will undoubtedly continue.​