Criminal Code, Illegal Access to a Computer System
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 7 September 2024.
A computer misuse rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 6 September 2026.
What it requires
- Do not access a computer system without authorization under law or contract, or beyond the limits of an authorization, including to use, administer, or control it or to conduct research or another operation in it.
- Reading a public, unauthenticated page without defeating any protection system or access control has not itself been held to violate this article.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionNo
Criminal exposure note
Illegal access under art. 259(1) carries a fine of 550 to 850 conventional units, community service, or up to one year of imprisonment; art. 259(2)'s aggravated form (defeating a protection system, connecting to communication channels, using special technical means, or targeting legally protected information) raises this to 850 to 1,350 conventional units or up to three years; art. 259(3) sets 1,500 to 3,000 conventional units or three to five years where the conduct causes particularly large-scale damage. A legal person is separately punished at each tier, from 2,000-4,000 up to 10,000-30,000 conventional units with liquidation at the top tier. One conventional unit equals 50 Moldovan lei under art. 64(2).
Penalty structure
Art. 259(3), the most severe tier, sets a fine for a legal person of 10,000 to 30,000 conventional units (500,000 to 1,500,000 lei, at 50 lei per unit under art. 64(2)) with liquidation of the legal entity; a natural person instead faces 1,500 to 3,000 conventional units (75,000 to 150,000 lei) or three to five years' imprisonment. The base offence, art. 259(1), sets a natural-person fine of 550 to 850 conventional units (27,500 to 42,500 lei) and a legal-person fine of 2,000 to 4,000 conventional units (100,000 to 200,000 lei); the aggravated form, art. 259(2), sets 850 to 1,350 conventional units (42,500 to 67,500 lei) for a natural person and 4,000 to 7,000 conventional units (200,000 to 350,000 lei) for a legal person.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- 6 September 2026
- Currency
- MDL
- Fixed cap
- 1,500,000
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
Article 259(1) punishes illegal access to a computer system by a person not authorized under the law or a contract, who exceeds the limits of an authorization, or who lacks the permission of the competent person to use, administer, or control a computer system or conduct scientific research or another operation in it, with a fine of 550 to 850 conventional units (27,500 to 42,500 Moldovan lei), community service, or up to one year of imprisonment.
Because the base offence's trigger is acting without authorization or exceeding it, a scraper reading a public, unauthenticated page falls outside a plain reading of paragraph (1), and no reported case has tested the point.
Paragraph (2) raises the fine to 850 to 1,350 conventional units (42,500 to 67,500 lei) or up to three years' imprisonment where the same act is committed by violating a protection system, connecting to electronic communication channels, using special technical means, using the access to commit a further listed crime, targeting legally protected information, or causing large-scale damage.
Paragraph (3) sets a fine of 1,500 to 3,000 conventional units (75,000 to 150,000 lei) or three to five years' imprisonment where either paragraph's conduct causes particularly large-scale damage. A legal person faces a separate, higher fine scale at each tier, up to 10,000 to 30,000 conventional units (500,000 to 1,500,000 lei) with liquidation at the top tier.
When LexLint raises it
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Read the law
Criminal Code of the Republic of Moldova
official English translation, Legislation Online (OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights), archived copy