Loi N° 2019-056 du 5 décembre 2019 portant répression de la cybercriminalité (Law on the Suppression of Cybercrime) (Mali)

Mali's Law No. 2019-056 of 5 December 2019 on the suppression of cybercrime is the country's principal cybercrime statute. It applies to any offence committed by means of information and communication technologies wholly or partly on Malian territory, and to offences committed in cyberspace whose effects occur on national territory. The law combines substantive offences, procedural powers for digital investigation and electronic evidence, and provisions on international cooperation. The substantive offences cover attacks on the confidentiality, integrity and availability of computer systems and data, illegal access, interference with systems and data, and computer-related forgery and fraud, alongside content offences. The latter have proved controversial: articles 20 and 21 criminalise threats and insults made through an information system, with penalties ranging from six months to up to ten years' imprisonment and fines of CFA 1,000,000 to 10,000,000. A duty to report knowledge of illicit activity is also backed by imprisonment and fines. Digital-rights organisations, notably CIPESA and Malian press groups (APPEL-Mali), have warned that these broadly framed speech offences pose risks to privacy and freedom of expression, particularly given Mali's constrained press-freedom environment, and have called for the law's revision. Procedurally, the law equips investigators with tools for the search and seizure of computer systems, data preservation and the interception of electronic communications, and establishes mechanisms for cross-border cooperation in cyber investigations. Institutionally, enforcement is associated with a specialised judicial pole against cybercrime and Mali's cybersecurity and telecommunications authorities; the AMRTP (telecoms/ICT regulator) publishes the official text. The cybercrime law operates alongside Mali's data protection statute, Law No. 2013-015 of 21 May 2013 (as amended by Law No. 2017-070), together forming the core of the country's digital legal framework. Source language: French.

1. 1Mali's principal cybercrime statute; applies to ICT-enabled offences committed wholly or partly in Mali and to cyberspace offences with effects on national territory
2. 2Substantive offences against confidentiality, integrity and availability of systems and data: illegal access, system and data interference, computer-related forgery and fraud
3. 3Controversial content offences: threats and insults via an information system (arts. 20-21), punishable by six months to ten years' imprisonment and fines of CFA 1m-10m
4. 4Duty to report knowledge of illicit online activity, backed by imprisonment and fines
5. 5Procedural powers: search and seizure of computer systems, data preservation, interception of electronic communications, and international cooperation
6. 6Criticised by CIPESA and Malian press groups as a risk to privacy and freedom of expression, with calls for revision
7. 7Enforced via a specialised judicial pole against cybercrime; official text published by the AMRTP; operates alongside the 2013 data protection law