Information, Communications and Media Act of Bhutan 2018, unauthorized access and tampering with computer systems
Information, Communications and Media Act of Bhutan 2018, ss.415-416
A citation is an address, not a summary. The first part names the law; what follows narrows it to the exact section, article or paragraph.
In force since 8 January 2018.
A computer misuse rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 6 September 2026.
What it requires
- Do not access a computer, computer system, network, or computer, content, or traffic data without authorization; unauthorized access is a felony of the fourth degree regardless of resulting damage, and the person is liable to pay court-determined compensation to the victim.
- Do not cause a stoppage or denial of service, delete or alter data, diminish a system's value or utility, or introduce a computer contaminant, with intent to cause or knowing it is likely to cause wrongful loss, gain, or damage; this is punishable as tampering with computer material under the Penal Code of Bhutan.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionYes
Criminal exposure note
ICMA s.416 grades unauthorized access to a computer, computer system, network, or data a felony of the fourth degree. Under the Penal Code of Bhutan (as amended by the Penal Code (Amendment) Act of Bhutan 2011 and 2021), s.11, a felony of the fourth degree carries imprisonment of a minimum of three years and a maximum of less than five years.
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The Courts of Bhutan adjudicate the offence and determine the compensation award; the Act does not describe a separate administrative enforcement role for the Bhutan InfoComm and Media Authority (BICMA) over ss.415-416.
What it reaches
Obligation class
Access restriction
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
Section 415 makes it an offence, keyed to intent to cause or knowledge that it is likely to cause wrongful loss, gain, or damage, to access a computer, computer system, network, or computer, content, or traffic data and thereby cause a stoppage or denial of service, delete or alter data, diminish a system's value or utility, or introduce a computer contaminant; the section labels this "tampering with computer material", punishable under the Penal Code of Bhutan.
Section 416 separately makes unauthorized access to a computer, computer system, network, or computer, content, or traffic data an offence in its own right, without requiring the loss, gain, or damage element of section 415, graded a felony of the fourth degree with court-determined compensation to the victim.
When LexLint raises it
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Read the law
official Act text
via a journalist-federation mirror of the government-issued PDF (samsn.ifj.org), since the government's own hosting domains serve live TLS failures