Ley Especial contra los Delitos Informáticos, unauthorized access and sabotage of systems (Arts. 6-11)
LECDI, Gaceta Oficial N° 37.313, 30/10/2001, arts. 6-11
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 29 November 2001.
A computer misuse rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 5 September 2026.
What it requires
- Do not access, intercept, interfere with, or use a computer system without authorization or in excess of the authorization obtained.
- The penalty is a third to a half higher where the system holds personal or patrimonial data, or serves a public function.
- Do not import, distribute, sell, or use equipment or programs meant to defeat a system's security measures.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Criminal exposure note
Article 6 (unauthorized access): imprisonment of one to five years and a fine of ten to fifty tax units. Article 7 (sabotage): imprisonment of four to eight years and a fine of four hundred to eight hundred tax units, rising to five to ten years and five hundred to one thousand tax units if a virus is used. Article 9 raises any of these penalties by a third to a half where the system holds personal or patrimonial data or serves a public function. Article 10 (circumvention tools): imprisonment of three to six years and a fine of three hundred to six hundred tax units. Article 11 (improper obtaining or disclosure): imprisonment of three to six years and a fine of three hundred to six hundred tax units, raised where done for profit or where it endangers state security.
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 6 punishes any person who, without due authorization or exceeding the authorization obtained, accesses, intercepts, interferes with, or uses a system that uses information technology. Article 7 punishes intentionally destroying, damaging, modifying, or otherwise altering or disabling such a system or its data, with a heavier penalty where a virus or similar program is used, and article 8 reduces the penalty by half to two-thirds where the same conduct is merely negligent.
Article 9 raises every penalty in this chapter by a third to a half where the system affected is protected by security measures, serves a public function, or holds personal or patrimonial data of a natural or legal person.
Article 10 punishes importing, manufacturing, distributing, selling, or using equipment or programs meant to defeat a system's security, or offering services to that end, and article 11 separately punishes improperly obtaining, revealing, or disseminating data or information held in a system, with the penalty raised where done for profit or where it endangers state security or an affected institution's reliability.
The offences in articles 6 through 11 all require accessing, intercepting, or otherwise acting on a system without or in excess of authorization; no provision, and no reported Venezuelan decision, addresses whether reading a public, unauthenticated page falls within that requirement.
When LexLint raises it
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