Christiana Aristidou

The development of NP 26692 within WG10 is expected to improve the reliability and consistency of how DLT-based digital evidence is identified, collected, acquired and preserved. Over time, common terminology, evidential principles and procedures should make it easier for investigators, forensic specialists, businesses and authorities to assess and exchange evidence. This could support fraud and cybercrime investigations, court proceedings and wider judicial and forensic processes, while strengthening confidence in legitimate uses of DLT. It could also improve evidence-handling practices in blockchain audits and analytics. 

For the EU, the work could support cross-border cooperation by reducing differences in technical approaches and improving the traceability and integrity of evidence. Although the standard will not replace national rules on admissibility or evidential weight, it could provide a common technical foundation for evidence handling across jurisdictions.

 European SMEs could benefit from clearer requirements against which to develop and demonstrate their products and services. Blockchain analytics providers, forensic tool developers, blockchain audit providers, cybersecurity businesses and compliance technology firms could use the standard to guide product design, improve interoperability and explain their capabilities to customers. The work could reduce the need for SMEs to develop separate evidence-handling procedures for each customer or market, lowering implementation costs and barriers to adoption. Clearer expectations could also support innovation by allowing smaller businesses to focus resources on improving their tools and services.