  Digital evidence underpin the majority of crimes as their analysis is an
integral part of almost every criminal investigation. Even if we temporarily
disregard the numerous challenges in the collection and analysis of digital
evidence, the exchange of the evidence among the different stakeholders has
many thorny issues. Of specific interest are cross-border criminal
investigations as the complexity is significantly high due to the heterogeneity
of legal frameworks which beyond time bottlenecks can also become prohibiting.
The aim of this article is to analyse the current state of practice of
cross-border investigations considering the efficacy of current collaboration
protocols along with the challenges and drawbacks to be overcome. Further to
performing a legally-oriented research treatise, we recall all the challenges
raised in the literature and discuss them from a more practical yet global
perspective. Thus, this article paves the way to enabling practitioners and
stakeholders to leverage horizontal strategies to fill in the identified gaps
timely and accurately.
