Funding for the twinning project “EU for Fight Against Cybercrime in Bosnia and Herzegovina” is provided by the European Union, from the IPA fund for 2017.

It is a capacity-building project, with a budget of 1 million euros. The project started in May 2021 and will be implemented until November 2022.

The overall objective of the project is to work on effective cybercrime deterrence improved in line with the EU and international standards.

The implementation of the project was granted to a Twinning consortium, composed of the Austrian Ministry of Interior, as a senior partner, and the Croatian Ministry of Interior, as a junior partner. The Agency for European Integration and Economic Development is providing technical support to the successful implementation of the project from the first beginning.

The project activities are grouped into two components. The first is aimed at transferring the practical knowledge and skills necessary to fight cybercrime and is implemented by Austrian police experts, while the second is implemented by Croatian police experts and is contributing to the harmonization of legislation with the EU acquis.

Through the implementation of the project, two strong advantages of the Consortium partners are combined, for the benefits of police services that are fighting cybercrime in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first advantage is Austrian experience in international cooperation, including the implementation of numerous Twinning projects in southeast Europe. The second is recent Croatian experience in accession to the European Union, the similarity of legal systems of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, and easy communication among experts due to the absence of a language barrier.

With due respect to measures introduced to suppress COVID 19, activities are implemented on-site whenever it is possible.