1. The meeting has focused on the main provisions relating to the Intelligence Services' "modus operandi".
There is a general feeling that not all legal systems are satisfactory and that are all capable of further development.
Some countries are concerned about a lack of certainty in their legal systems; the key need is to know what the Services can and can't do.

2. The need to incorporate the key provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights into domestic legislations has been acknowledged as a significant aspect of this topic.

3. At present most Services are in the middle of a period of change. Increasing demand for effective intelligence gathering and contrasting activities mirrors increasing demand for accountability.
Accordingly, in several countries bills are being drafted to revise the regulations governing Intelligence Services.

4. It has been pointed out that some Services lack an adequate legal framework governing the issue of operational guarantees for their agents.
This circumstance may cause a sense of insecurity within Services' operators, affecting also their efficiency.

5. Some countries have specific legislations aimed at protecting operators' activity. The main options are:
- ad hoc authorisation procedures
- specific procedures during trial.
The choice depends on the principles at the basis of the legal system of the country concerned.

6. All the Services are aware of the need to regulate the activity of collecting and processing information in a context of legality, taking into account the "peculiarity" of the Intelligence Services' function.
Any legislative system should consider the need to balance the risk to national security against the degree of intrusion into the life of citizens, on the basis of criteria of proportionality, necessity and adequacy, in order to exclude excess and arbitrariness.

7. All the Services agree on the need to strengthen their common legal background and to intensify cooperation programmes, as well as to improve exchange of information on specific topics of juridical and legal nature.
The objective is twofold:
- to provide Governments with elements for a coordinated approach to share values in the different legislations;
- to determine the fundamental intelligence needs to be taken into account in the common European legal framework.