Answer given by Mr Avramopoulos on behalf of the Commission

17.7.2017

As pointed out in its answer to Written Question E-001101/2017, the Commission is aware that the increasing use of Carrier-Grade Network Address Translation (CGN) technology makes it technically very difficult for an Internet service provider to identify an individual subscriber in response to legitimate requests from law enforcement authorities. Consequently, it is difficult to attribute crime and identify criminals using that particular Internet Protocol (IP) address.

The Commission supports the efforts being made to raise awareness about the issue, share best practices and find ways to facilitate the attribution of crime. The Commission raised the issue during the last meeting of RIPE (Réseaux IP Européens) in May 2017, via its representative who is chairing RIPE's Cooperation Working Group. Europol expressed their views at that meeting and the case of the voluntary code of conduct with service providers in Belgium was highlighted as a good practice.