The Tallinn Manual Process has been one of the flagship research initiatives of NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE) since the launch of the Centre in 2008. As the sponsor of the recently launched Tallinn Manual 3.0 project, the CCDCOE invites experts around the world to contribute to the revision of this globally influential resource for legal and policy advisors dealing with cyber issues.
For that purpose, a crowdsourcing tool has been made available that allows experts to share their comments and suggestions on how the rules and accompanying commentary of the Tallinn Manual 2.0 should be revised in the light of emerging State practice.
“Previous editions of the Tallinn Manual have helped cyber defence professionals understand the rules of the game – what international law allows and prohibits regarding States” conduct in cyberspace, as well as the obligations they shoulder,” said Kadri Kaska, Head of Law Branch at the CCDCOE. “As the digital technologies evolve and practice accumulates, legal advisers and scholars alike are facing a growing number of legal questions for which their nations require practical answers. The question for the CCDCOE is, how can the new Tallinn Manual process tap into their insight and experience while being responsive to their needs?”
According to the Director of the Tallinn Manual 3.0 project, Professor Michael Schmitt, global input into the revision of the Manual will ensure it reflects all reasonable views as to how international law governs cyber operations. Revision is particularly timely because States have begun to set forth their positions on the matter, and are doing so with growing granularity. For instance, States have begun to speak to such matters as sovereignty in cyberspace and the qualification of cyber operations as ‘attacks’ governed by humanitarian law during armed conflict.”
In 2021, the CCDCOE launched the Tallinn Manual 3.0 project, a five-year venture that will involve the revision of existing editions of Tallinn Manuals on the basis of State practice, States’ official statements on international law, the activities of international organizations and the fora they sponsor, and the work of eminent scholars.
The nature of the Tallinn Manual will remain unchanged; it will continue to be a non-legally-binding scholarly work by distinguished international law academics and practitioners intended to provide an objective restatement of international law as applied in the cyber context. It is policy- and politics-neutral and will not represent the legal position or doctrine of any State or international organisation, including the CCDCOE.
More about the Tallinn Manual Process.