Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act, 2021, unauthorised access to computer system and data (repealed)
Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act, 2021 (Act No. 2 of 2021), s. 49
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.
Repealed: no longer in force, effective 1 April 2021.
A computer misuse rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 5 September 2026.
What it requires
- This Act's unauthorised-access offence has been repealed and replaced by section 3 of the Cyber Crimes Act, 2025.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionNo
Criminal exposure note
While in force, a fine of up to five hundred thousand penalty units (ZMW 200,000) or imprisonment of up to five years, or both, on conviction (s. 49(1)).
Penalty structure
Stated in the Act as five hundred thousand penalty units, valued at ZMW 0.40 each under the Fees and Fines (Fee and Penalty Unit Value) (Amendment) Regulations, 2024; the same subsection also allowed imprisonment of up to five years instead of or in addition to the fine.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- 5 September 2026
- Currency
- ZMW
- Fixed cap
- 200,000
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 49(1) prohibited intentionally accessing or intercepting data without authority or permission, or exceeding authorised access, with no express requirement that the person infringe a security measure to do so, so its unauthorised-access offence read more broadly than the offence that replaced it. Contravention carried a fine of up to five hundred thousand penalty units, valued at ZMW 0.40 each since 19 April 2024 (ZMW 200,000), or imprisonment of up to five years, or both.
The Cyber Security Act, 2025 repealed this Act outright. The repeal took legal effect on 12 May 2025 when that Act itself came into operation. The equivalent unauthorised-access offence, narrowed to require infringing a security measure, now sits at section 3 of the companion Cyber Crimes Act, 2025.
When LexLint raises it
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Read the law
Official Act text, ZambiaLII (Zambia Legal Information Institute)