According to the Council of Europe’s website:

"The Council was set up to:

1. defend human rights, parliamentary democracy and the rule of law,
2. develop continent-wide agreements to standardise member countries' social and legal practices,
3. promote awareness of a European identity based on shared values and cutting across different cultures.

"Since 1989, its main job has become:

1. acting as a political anchor and human rights watchdog for Europe's post-communist democracies,
2. assisting the countries of central and eastern Europe in carrying out and consolidating political, legal and constitutional reform in parallel with economic reform,
3. providing know-how in areas such as human rights, local democracy, education, culture and the environment.

Since its Vienna Summit in October 1993, the Council of Europe has been dedicated to protecting the principle of “democratic security.”

Members include 45 European countries: Albania, Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Ukraine, United Kingdom.

Also signing onto the COE's Convention on Cybercrime: Canada, Japan, South Africa, and the United States.

Statutory Resolution (93) 27, adopted by the Committee of Ministers in 1993 provides:

"Decisions on the opening for signature of Conventions and Agreements concluded within the Council of Europe shall be taken by a two-thirds majority of the representatives casting a vote and a majority of the representatives entitled to sit on the Committee..."

In practice, decisions are taken by consensus.

"By decision CDPC/103/211196, the [Council of Europe’s] European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC) decided in November 1996 to set up a committee of experts to deal with cyber-crime. The CDPC based its decision on the following rationale:

"The fast developments in the field of information technology have a direct bearing on all sections of modern society. The integration of telecommunication and information systems, enabling the storage and transmission, regardless of distance, of all kinds of communication opens a whole range of new possibilities....

"The criminal law must therefore keep abreast of these technological developments which offer highly sophisticated opportunities for misusing facilities of the cyber-space and causing damage to legitimate interests. Given the cross-border nature of information networks, a concerted international effort is needed to deal with such misuse. ...[O]nly a binding international instrument can ensure the necessary efficiency in the fight against these new phenomena. In the framework of such an instrument, in addition to measures of international co-operation, questions of substantive and procedural law, as well as matters that are closely connected with the use of information technology, should be addressed."

Convention on Cybercrime - Explanatory Report, paras. 7-10