Loi N° 2017-20 du 20 avril 2018 portant Code du numérique (Digital Code of Benin)

Law No. 2017-20 of 20 April 2018 enacting the Digital Code of Benin (Code du numérique) is a comprehensive consolidating statute governing electronic communications, the digital economy, electronic transactions and trust services, e-commerce, personal data protection, and cybersecurity and cybercrime. Its Book VI ('Cybercriminalité et cybersécurité') is Benin's principal source of substantive cybercrime offences and related procedure, while Book V governs personal data protection. The Code aligns Benin's digital framework with the Council of Europe Budapest Convention and the African Union Malabo Convention. On cybercrime, Book VI criminalises offences against the confidentiality, integrity and availability of computer systems and data, illegal access and unauthorised remaining within systems, illegal interception, data and system interference, and misuse of devices, together with computer-related forgery and fraud and content offences (notably child pornography and certain unlawful online publications). It provides procedural powers for the investigation of digital offences, including the preservation, search, seizure and production of computer data and the interception of electronic communications, and addresses international cooperation in cyber matters. Institutionally, cybersecurity and incident response are led by Benin's national cybersecurity agency (ANSSI-Bénin) and the national CERT/CIRT, while the Autorité de Protection des Données à caractère Personnel (APDP, renamed from the former CNIL in 2018) supervises the data protection provisions in Book V. The Code operates alongside, and does not displace, Benin's earlier dedicated data protection statute, Law No. 2009-09 of 22 May 2009. Digital-rights dimension (June 2026 sweep): the Code also contains content offences that bear directly on online expression, in particular the criminalisation of disseminating 'false information' and of harassment by means of electronic communications (notably Article 550), carrying custodial penalties. Press-freedom and digital-rights organisations, including Amnesty International in a May 2025 report, have documented the use of these provisions to prosecute journalists, bloggers and online commentators and have called for the Digital Code to be reformed. The Code is therefore Benin's principal instrument of digital-rights exposure as well as its main cybercrime and data protection statute. Separately, the Information and Communication Code (Law No. 2015-07 of 20 March 2015) requires online news media to obtain HAAC approval (art. 252) and has been used to order closures of online outlets; it is noted here as context and flagged as a candidate for the Telecoms/media sweep. Telecoms dimension (July 2026 sweep): the Digital Code is also Benin's principal electronic-communications statute. It governs the establishment and operation of electronic communications networks and services, the market-entry regimes (individual licences, general authorisations and declarations), interconnection and access, radio-frequency spectrum and numbering as scarce public resources, universal service/access, and subscriber identification (SIM registration). Sector regulation is carried out by the Autorité de Régulation des Communications Électroniques et de la Poste (ARCEP-Bénin), whose organic framework is set by Law No. 2019-209 of 31 July 2019, operating alongside the substantive rules of the Digital Code. Source language: French.

1. 1Comprehensive Digital Code; Book VI ('Cybercriminalité et cybersécurité') is Benin's principal source of substantive cybercrime offences and procedure, while Book V covers personal data protection
2. 2Substantive offences against the confidentiality, integrity and availability of systems and data: illegal access, illegal interception, data and system interference, and misuse of devices
3. 3Computer-related forgery and fraud, and content offences including child pornography and unlawful online publications
4. 4Procedural powers: preservation, search, seizure and production of computer data and interception of electronic communications, plus provisions on international cooperation
5. 5Aligns Benin's framework with the Budapest Convention and the AU Malabo Convention
6. 6Cybersecurity and incident response led by ANSSI-Bénin and the national CERT; data protection (Book V) supervised by the APDP
7. 7Digital-rights concern: content offences criminalising dissemination of 'false information' and online harassment (notably Article 550), carrying custodial penalties, documented as used against journalists and online commentators (Amnesty International, May 2025)
8. 8Operates alongside Benin's principal data protection statute, Law No. 2009-09 of 22 May 2009 (recorded separately as bj-dp-2009)
9. 9Telecoms: the Digital Code is Benin's primary electronic-communications statute, regulating the establishment and operation of networks and services
10. 10Telecoms market entry via individual licence, general authorisation or declaration, with interconnection and access obligations on operators
11. 11Radio-frequency spectrum and the national numbering plan managed as scarce public resources; universal service/access mechanisms
12. 12Subscriber identification (SIM registration) obligations
13. 13Sector regulation by ARCEP-Bénin, whose organic framework is Law No. 2019-209 of 31 July 2019