Editor’s Note: The draft manual is available here.
From: NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence
The long awaited Tallinn Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare is now available for reading and research on the web page of NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. The Manual is forthcoming in both paper and electronic format from Cambridge University Press (© Cambridge University Press 2013).
The Tallinn Manual, written at the invitation of the Centre by an independent ‘International Group of Experts’, is the result of a three-year effort to examine how extant international law norms apply to this ‘new’ form of warfare. It is therefore essential to understand that the Tallinn Manual is not an official document, but the product of a group of independent experts acting solely in their personal capacity. It does not represent the views of the Centre, its Sponsoring Nations, or NATO, nor is it meant to reflect NATO doctrine.
The Manual pays particular attention to the jus ad bellum, the international law governing the resort to force by States as an instrument of their national policy, and the jus in bello, the international law regulating the conduct of armed conflict (also labelled the law of war, the law of armed conflict, or international humanitarian law). Related bodies of international law, such as the law of State responsibility and the law of the sea, are dealt within the context of these topics. As such, the Tallinn Manual only focuses on the existing law and its interpretation in the cyber context – it does not propose or aim to contribute to the discussions on norms of behaviour, codes of conduct or confidence building measures.
The prospective users of the Tallinn Manual are government legal advisers to Ministries of Defence, Foreign Affairs, Interior and Justice; legal advisers to military forces and intelligence agencies; academics and graduate students in law, government and security studies; general counsel for defence industry; think tanks; consultancies; and law firms. The Tallinn Manual is designed to be accessible to lawyers with basic knowledge of international law.
The document can be accessed from here: https://www.ccdcoe.org/249.html
NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence is one of many NATO Centres of Excellence. Its mission is to enhance the capability, cooperation and information sharing among NATO, its member nations and partners in cyber defence by virtue of education, research and development, lessons learned and consultation.
For additional information:
Kristiina Pennar
Public Relations
+372 717 6811
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