Loi n° 2008-11 du 25 janvier 2008 sur la Cybercriminalité, unauthorized computer-system access (Penal Code arts. 431-8 to 431-9)
Loi n° 2008-11 du 25 janvier 2008 portant sur la Cybercriminalité, Code pénal arts. 431-8 to 431-9
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 January 2008.
A computer misuse rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 5 September 2026.
What it requires
- Do not access, or attempt to access, all or part of a computer system by fraudulent means, and do not maintain a fraudulent presence in one once inside.
- Reading a public, unauthenticated page without defeating a login or technical access control has not itself been held to violate this provision, but no reported Senegalese decision confirms it falls outside 'fraudulent access' either.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionNo
Criminal exposure note
A prison term of six months to three years and/or a fine of 1,000,000 to 10,000,000 CFA francs on conviction (art. 431-8).
Penalty structure
Fine only; the same article also allows imprisonment of six months to three years instead of or in addition to the fine.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- 5 September 2026
- Minimum
- 1,000,000
- Currency
- XOF
- Fixed cap
- 10,000,000
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
Senegalese public prosecutor (ministère public), under the ordinary criminal courts
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.
Article 431-8 punishes anyone who fraudulently accesses or attempts to access all or part of a computer system, and anyone who fraudulently obtains an advantage for himself or another by accessing one, with a prison term of six months to three years and/or a fine of 1,000,000 to 10,000,000 CFA francs; article 431-9 punishes fraudulently maintaining a presence in a system with the same penalty.
Unlike a neighbouring statute that limits the offense to access gained by infringing a security measure, article 431-8's English text carries no such express trigger, so whether reading a public, unauthenticated page without defeating any access control satisfies 'fraudulently accesses' has not been settled by a reported Senegalese decision.
Article 431-10 separately punishes obstructing or distorting a computer system's operation, with a prison term of one to five years and a fine of 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 CFA francs. Article 431-12 punishes fraudulently intercepting non-public data transmissions with the same range of penalties.
When LexLint raises it
crawls_webtrains_models
Read the law
Law No. 2008-11 on Cybercrime, official English translation reproduced on WIPO Lex