COMPUTER CRIMES BILL

BE it enacted by the Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka as follows



I . This Act may be cited as the Computer Crimes Act, No. ………..of 2001.



PART 1



2. Whoever does any act, with the intention of securing for himself or for any other person access to

(a) any computer; or

(b) any computer programme, data or information in that computer or any other computer,

knowing or having reason to believe, that he is not authorized to secure such access, shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine not exceeding three hundred thousand rupees or to both such fine and imprisonment.



3. Whoever does any act, with the intention of securing for himself or for any other person, access to

(a) any computer; or

(b) any computer programme, data or information in that computer or any other computer,

knowing or having reason to believe, that he is not authorized to secure such access and with the intention of committing any other offence under this or any other law for the time being in force, shall be guilty of an offence, and shall, on conviction be punished with such term of imprisonment as is prescribed for the offence of attempting to commit such other offence, or to a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand rupees or to both such fine and imprisonment.



4. Whoever, intentionally causes a computer to perform any function with the knowledge or having reason to believe that he has no authority to cause the computer to perform such function, shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine not exceeding two hundred thousand or to both such fine and imprisonment.

Explanation - For the purposes of this section and sections 5 and 6,

(a) it is immaterial that the offender had authority to access the computer, computer programme, data or information ; and

(b) a person who acts in excess of authority given to him or exercises that authority wrongfully, is in fact acting without authority;



5. Whoever , intentionally causes a computer to perform any function with the knowledge or having reason to believe that he has no authority to cause the computer to perform such function, with the intention of committing any other offence under this or any other law for the time being in force, shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction be punished with such term of imprisonment as is prescribed for the offence of attempting to commit such other offence, or to a fine not exceeding three hundred thousand rupees or to both such fine and imprisonment.



6. Whoever, intentionally causes a computer to perform any function with the knowledge or having reason to believe that he has no authority to cause the computer to perform such function, and by so doing

(a) impairs, the operation of any computer or the reliability of any data or information in any computer or computer programme;

(b) makes any deletion of or addition or alteration to, any programme, data or information;

(c) denies or hinders access to any person who is authorised to access any computer, computer programme, data or information;

(d) enables access to any person who is not authorised to access any computer, computer programme, data or information;

(e) denies or hinders access to any computer, computer programme, data or information;

(f) enables access to any computer, computer programme, data or information;

(g) copies or acquires the substance, meaning or purport of or makes use of in any other manner, any programme, data or information or any part thereof;

(h) moves any programme, data or information to a different location in the storage medium in which it is held or to any other storage medium;

(i) causes any programme, data or information to be output from the computer in which it is held, by display or any other manner;

(j) makes use of a computer service involving computer time, data processing or the storage or retrieval of data;

(k) intercepts, diverts or otherwise tampers with any computer programme, data or information or any part thereof;

(l)listens to or records the function of a computer;

(m) introduces any false information to any computer, computer programme, data or information;

(n) introduces to any computer or computer programme any material in any form whatsoever, which is forbidden to be distributed, circulated or published under any law,

shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term not exceeding five years or to a fine not exceeding five hundred thousand rupees or to both such fine and imprisonment.

Explanation It is immaterial whether the consequences referred to in sub paragraphs (a) to (n) resulting from the function which the offender caused the computer to perform, were of a temporary or permanent nature.



7. Whoever, without lawful excuse and with intent to cause, or knowing that he is likely to cause loss or damage to any person or Institution, causes a computer to perform any function, shall, if loss or damage is so caused to any person, be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction be punished with imprisonment of either description to a term not exceeding five years or to a, fine not exceeding five hundred thousand rupees or to both such fine and imprisonment.

Explanation l - It is immaterial that the offender had authority to access the computer or had authority to perform the function.

Explanation 2 - The offender need not have intended to cause or have had the knowledge that he is likely to cause, loss or damage to any particular person or Institution.



8. Whoever, -

(a) buys, sells, trades in or deals in any manner with; or

(b) offers to buy, sell, trade in or deal in any manner with,

any data or information which has been obtained by any person in consequence of the commission of an offence under this Act, knowing or having reason to believe that the same has been so obtained, shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction be punished with imprisonment of either description to a term which may extend to three years or to a fine not exceeding three hundred thousand rupees or to both such fine and imprisonment.



9. Whoever, being entrusted with information which enables him to access any service provided by means of a computer, discloses such information to any other person without authority to do so or in breach of any legal contract expressed or implied, shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term not exceeding two years or with fine not exceeding three hundred thousand or with both such fine and imprisonment.



10. Whoever, being in a position of trust, commits an offence under this or any other law in force, in relation to a computer or to any computer programme, data or information to which he has obtained access using such position, shall, on conviction be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term not exceeding seven years or to a fine not exceeding seven hundred thousand rupees or to both such fine and imprisonment.



11. Whoever commits an offence under this Act and thereby endangers or causes imminent danger to the national economy or to national security, shall on conviction be punished with imprisonment which may extend to life,



12. Whoever attempts to commit an offence under sections 3 to 11 of this Act or to cause such an offence to be committed, and in such attempt does any act towards the commission of the offence, shall on conviction be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term not exceeding one half of the maximum term provided for the offence, or with fine not exceeding one half of the maximum fine provided for the offence, or to both such fine and imprisonment.



13. (1) Whoever abets any offence under this Act shall be guilty of an offence and shall

(a) if the act abetted is committed in consequence of the abetment, be punished with the punishment provided for the offence; and

(b) if the offence be not committed in consequence of the abetment, be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term not exceeding one fourth of the maximum term provided for the offence, or with fine not exceeding one fourth of the maximum fine provided for the offence, or to both such fine and imprisonment.

(2)The term `abet' shall have the same meaning as in sections 100 and 101 of the Penal Code and the provisions of sections 101A, 103, 104, 105, 106 and 107 of the Penal Code shall apply in relation to the abetment of any offence under this Act.



14. (1) Whoever conspires to commit an offence under this Act shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction be punished as if he had abetted the offence.

(2) The terms `conspire' shall have the same meanings as in section 113A(1) of the Penal Code and the provisions of section 113A(2) shall apply in relation to conspiracy to commit any offence under this Act.



15. (1) Where a court convicts any person of an offence under this Act, and it is established that as a result of the commission of such offence –

(a) loss or damage was caused to any other person or Institution; or

(b) gain accrued to the offender or some other person,

the court shall, in addition to any other punishment that may be imposed on the offender, make order for the payment by the offender,

(i) of compensation, to such other person or Institution for the loss or damage so caused ; or

(ii) of a sum equivalent to the value of the monetary gain so accrued, to the State,

as the case may be,

Provided however that, where loss or damage is caused to any person or Institution and gain has also accrued to the offender or to some other person as a result of the commission of such offence, the court shall, in addition to any other punishment that may be imposed on such offender, make order only for the payment of compensation, by the offender to such person or Institution for the loss or damage so caused.

(2) An order made under sub-section (1) for payment, shall be recovered as if such order was a decree entered by the District Court in favour of the person or Institution which suffered the loss or damage or the State, as the case may be, and. against the offender.

(3). A certificate under the hand of an expert in the panel of experts constituted under section 19 of this Act with regard to the compensation that would satisfy the loss or damage caused or the monetary value of the gain accrued, shall be admissible in evidence and shall be proof of the facts stated therein.





PART 2



INVESTIGATIONS



16. Except as otherwise provided by this Act, all offences under this Act shall be investigated, tried or otherwise dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act, No. 15 of 1979.



17. Every offence under this Act shall be a cognizable offence within the meaning of, and for the purpose of the Code of Criminal procedure Act No. 15 of 1979.



18. (1) For the purposes of investigations under this Act, the Inspector General of Police may, in consultation with the Computer and Information Technology Council of Sri Lanka (CINTEC) established under the Science and Technology Act, No. 11 of 1994, constitute a panel of experts from among persons who possess adequate knowledge and skill in the field of information technology and is thereby possessed of the required expertise to assist in the investigation of offences under this Act.

(2) Every expert in the panel of experts (hereinafter referred to as an `expert') shall be appointed to the panel for a period of three years and shall be eligible for re-appointment.

(3) The names of the experts shall, upon appointment be published in the Gazette.

(4) An expert may be called upon to assist any Police Officer in the investigation of any offence under this Act and it shall be the duty of such expert to render all such assistance as may be required for the purposes of such investigation and to hand over to the Officer in charge of the Police Station, any information, data, material or other matter that may be obtained by him in the course of such investigation.

(5) An expert who is called upon by any Police Officer to assist in the investigation of an offence under this Act, shall have all such powers as may be necessary to assist in the conduct of the investigation and shall, without prejudice to the generality of the powers so conferred, have the power to enter upon any premises in or upon which such offence is alleged to have been committed or is to be committed along with a Police Officer not below the rank of Sub Inspector, and to –

(i) access any computer which he suspects to be relevant to the investigation of an offence under this Act for the purposes of examining or doing any other thing in relation to any computer operation, programme, data, or information or other thing ;

(ii) require any person who usually has access to any computer or computer system or programme to assist in securing access thereto;

(iii) require any person to produce any document, information or other thing required for the purposes of the investigation ;

(iv) examine orally any person believed to be acquainted with the facts and circumstances of the matter being investigated ;

(v) assist in the investigation in any other manner ;

(6) An expert shall be paid such sum as may be determined by the Inspector General of Police in consultation with the …..



19. Without prejudice to the powers vested in a Police Officer under any other law, any Police Officer may, in the course of an investigation under this Law, exercise powers of arrest, search and seizure in the manner provided for by law: Provided however that no such Police Officer shall access any computer for the purpose of an investigation unless the Inspector General of Police has previously certified that he possesses adequate knowledge and skill in the field of information technology and is thereby possessed of the required expertise to perform such a function.



20. Every Police Officer and every expert who conducts any search, inspection or does any other thing in the course of an investigation, shall make every endeavour to ensure that the ordinary course of legitimate business for which any computer may be used is not hampered thereby and shall not seize any computer, computer system or part thereof if such seizure will prejudice the conduct of the ordinary course of business for which a computer is used, unless-

(a) it is not possible to conduct the inspection on the premises where such computer, computer system or part thereof is located ; or

(b) seizure of such computer, computer system or part thereof is essential to prevent the commission of the offence or the continuance of the offence or to obtain evidence which would otherwise be destroyed.



21. (1) Every person engaged in an investigation under this Act shall maintain strict confidentiality with regard to all such matters as may come to his knowledge in the course of inspecting or accessing any computer or computer system or programme, and shall not disclose to any person or utilize for any purpose whatsoever any material or information so obtained, other than when required to do so for the purpose of performing his duties under this Act.

(2) Any person who acts in violation of sub-section (1) shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term not exceeding two years or a fine not exceeding three hundred thousand rupees or both such fine and imprisonment.



22. (1) The provisions of sections 36 and 37 of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act, No. 15 of 1979 shall not apply in relation to persons suspected of or accused of offences under this Act.

(2) A police officer making an arrest, without a warrant, of any person suspected or accused of an offence under this Act, shall without unnecessary delay and within twenty four hours of the arrest, produce such person before a Judge of the High Court having jurisdiction in the case and such Judge may, upon a certificate being filed by a police officer not below the rank of a Superintendent of Police to the effect that it is necessary to detain such person in custody for the purpose of investigations, make an order permitting the detention of such person in police custody for a period not exceeding forty eight hours.





PART 3
GENERAL



23. The schedule to the Extradition Law, No. 8 of 1977 is hereby amended by the insertion immediately before Part B thereof, of the following

"(4_) "Computer crimes"



24. The High Court of Sri Lanka holden at Colombo or the High Court established by Article 154P of the Constitution for the Western Province, is hereby vested with jurisdiction to hear, try and determine all offences under this Act.



25. The jurisdiction vested in the High Court by section 24 shall be exercised by such High Court, where -

(a) the person alleged to have committed the offence is a citizen of Sri Lanka or is a stateless person who has his habitual residence in Sri Lanka;

(b) the act, proof of which is required to constitute the offence, was done or was to be done, in Sri Lanka; or

(c) the computer, computer programme, data or information which was affected or was to be affected, by the act was in Sri Lanka; or

(d) the facility or service, including any computer storage or processing service, which was used for the commission of the offence was provided in Sri Lanka;

(e) the person who or Institution which, suffered loss or damage, was resident in or registered in Sri Lanka, as the case may be.



26. No action or prosecution shall be instituted against any expert appointed for the purposes of this Act for any act which is done in good faith by such expert in pursuance of his duties under this Act or on the direction of a Police Officer.



27. Every expert shall, in the discharge of his duties under this Act, be deemed to be a "Peace Officer" within the meaning of and for the purposes of the Code of Criminal Procedure Act, No. 15 of 1979 and to be a "public servant" within the meaning and for the purposes of the Penal Code.