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Law / Rwanda

Law on Prevention and Punishment of Cybercrimes, unauthorized access

Law N° 60/2018 of 25/09/2018 on Prevention and Punishment of Cyber Crimes art. 16 (Unauthorized access to a computer or a computer system data)

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 25 September 2018.

A computer misuse rule binding public and private bodies.

As of 5 September 2026.

What it requires

  • Do not access computer or computer system data without the consent of a person entitled to give it, without being entitled to control or access it yourself, or by accessing another person's computer system without authorization.
  • Reading a public, unauthenticated page has not itself been held, in a reported Rwandan decision, to violate this article.

If you get it wrong

Criminal exposureYes

Private right of actionNo

Criminal exposure note

Imprisonment of not less than six months and not more than two years and a fine of not less than RWF 1,000,000 and not more than RWF 2,000,000, on conviction (art. 16, para. 2).

Penalty structure

Fine only; the same paragraph also allows imprisonment of six months to two years instead of or alongside the fine.

Rule
Fixed only
As of
5 September 2026
Currency
RWF
Fixed cap
2,000,000

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 16 makes it an offence for a person to intentionally and unlawfully get access to computer or computer system data where the person does not have consent from someone entitled to give it, is not entitled to control or access the data, or accesses another person's computer system without authorization to know recorded or transmitted data, by any means and regardless of location. The offence carries imprisonment of six months to two years and a fine of RWF 1,000,000 to 2,000,000.

None of article 16's three grounds requires infringing a technical security measure; each turns instead on the absence of consent, entitlement, or authorization.

When LexLint raises it

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Read the law

official Law text, RwandaLII (Official Gazette special of 25 September 2018)

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