Conclusive remarks. Antifraud investigations and respect for fundamental rights faced with the challenge of e-evidence and digital devices.

Financial crimes represent a privileged field to study the impact of the digital revolution in the management of criminal proceedings, especially with regard to fact-finding and evidentiary issues. In the field of frauds against the EU budget, the paper trail traditionally left by offenders constituted an essential piece of evidence to which investigators must resort, in order to reconstruct the dynamics of the facts and to bring to justice the responsible person(s). Nowadays, inevitably, in an age of digital economy (and after the advent of the fourth industrial revolution and web 3.0), the “trail” the law enforcement authorities need to follow is constituted by a multiplicity of data, rather than by paper. Although focused mainly on financial and fiscal crimes (especially VAT offences), the research has confirmed that the management of electronic evidence (and its evolution, represented by the use of artificial intelligence systems - AI - and machine learning systems - ML), from its collection during the investigation up to its assessment at the end of the trial, is and will be one of the main challenges for the fair administration of criminal proceedings.