Electronic / Cyber Crimes Ordinance Promulgated in Pakistan

Posted on December 10, 2008

The new law “Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2008″ (same as Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2007) is in force now, which was promulgated by the President of Pakistan. The “Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2008″ extends to the whole of Pakistan.

The “Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2008″ will apply to every person who commits an offence under the said Ordinance irrespective of his nationality or citizenship whatsoever or in any place outside or inside Pakistan, having detrimental effect on the security if Pakistan or its nationals or national harmony or any property or any electronic system or data located in Pakistan or any electronic system or data capable of being connected , sent to, used by or with any electronic system in Pakistan.

The ordinance i.e. “Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2008″ gives exclusive powers to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to investigate and charge cases against such crimes.

The ordinance covers provision for illegal and criminal acts such as data access, data damage, system damage, electronic fraud, electronic forgery, spamming, spoofing, cyber terrorism etc.

Chapter II of the “Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2008″ deals with the Offences and Punishments. Punishments range from two years to death penalty. For the general guidance offences and punishments are mentioned below:

Section 3 of the “Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2008″ deals with criminal access: The said section states

Criminal Access: Whoever intentionally gains unauthorized access to the whole or any part of an electronic system or electronic device with or without infringing security measures, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years or with fine not exceeding three hundred thousand rupees, or with both.

Criminal Data Access is an Offence and Punishable.

Section 4 of the” Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2008“, states,

Criminal data access: Whoever intentionally causes any electronic system or electronic device to perform any function for the purpose of gaining unauthorized access to any data held in any electronic system or electronic device or on obtaining such unauthorized access shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years or with fine or with both.

“Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2008″

Section 5 states:

Data Damage: Whoever with intent to illegal gain or cause harm to the public or any person, damages any data shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years or with fine or with both.

“Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2008″

Section 6 states:

System Damage: Whoever with intent to cause damage to the public or any person interferes with or interrupts or obstructs the functioning, reliability or usefulness of an electronic system or electronic device by imputing, transmitting, damaging, deleting, altering, tempering, deteriorating or suppressing any date or services or halting electronic system or choking the networks shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years or with fine or with both.

“Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2008″

Section 7 states:

Electronic fraud: Whoever for wrongful gain interferes with or uses any data, electronic system or electronic device or induces any person to enter into a relationship or with intent to deceive any person, which act or omissions is likely to cause damage or harm to that person or any other person shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, or with fine, or with both.

“Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2008″

Section 8 states:

Electronic Forgery: Whoever for wrongful gain interferes with data, electronic system or electronic device, with intent to cause damage or injury to the public or to any person, or to make any illegal claim or title or to cause any person to part with property or to enter into any express or implied contract, or with intent to commit fraud by any input, alteration, deletion, or suppression of data, resulting in unauthentic data with the intent that it be considered or acted upon for legal purposes as if it were authentic, regardless of the fact that the data is directly readable and intelligible or not shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years, or with fine or with both.

“Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2008″

Section 9 states:

Misuse of electronic system or electronic device: Whoever produces, possesses, sells, procures, transports, imports, distributes or otherwise makes available an electronic system or electronic device, including a computer program, designed or adapted primarily for the purpose of committing any of the offences established under this Ordinance or a password, access code, or similar data by which the whole or any part of an electronic system or electronic device is capable of being accessed or its functionality compromised or reverse engineered, with the intent it be used for the purpose of committing any of the offences established under this ordinance, is said to commit of misuse of electronic system or electronic devices. Whoever commits the offence shall be punishable with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

“Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2008″

Section 10 states:

Unauthorized access to code: Whoever discloses or obtains any password, access as to code, system design or any other means of gaining access to any electronic system or data with intent to obtain wrongful gain, do reverse engineering or cause wrongful loss to any other unlawful purpose shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years or with both.

“Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2008″

Section 11 states:

Misuse of encryption: Whoever for the purpose of commission of an offence or concealment of incriminating evidence, knowledge and willfully encrypts any incriminating communication or data contained in electronic system relating to that crime or incriminating evidence, commits the offence of misuse of encryption shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years or with fine or with both.

“Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2008″

Section 12 states:

Malicious code: Whoever willfully writes, offers, makes available, distributes or transmits malicious code through an electronic system or electronic device, with intent to cause harm to any electronic system or resulting in the corporation, distribution, alteration, suppression, theft or loss of data commits the offence of malicious code.

Provided that the provision of this section shall not apply to the authorized testing, research and development or protection of an electronic system for any lawful purpose.

Whoever commits the offence shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine or with both.

“Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2008″

Section 13 states:

Cyber stalking: Whoever with intent to coerce, intimidate, or harass any person uses computer, computer network, internet, network site, electronic mail or any other similar means of communication to communicate obscene, vulgar, profane, lewd, lascivious, or indecent language, picture or image, make any suggestion or proposal of an obscene nature, threaten any illegal or immoral act, take or distribute pictures or photographs of any person without his consent or knowledge, display or distribute information in a manner that substantially increases the risk of harm or violence to any other person, commits the offence of cyber stalking.

Whosoever commits the offence shall be punishable with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years or with fine not exceeding three hindered thousand rupees, or with both.

Provided that if the victim of the cyber stalking is a minor the punishment may extend to ten years or with fine not less than one hundred thousand rupees or with both.

“Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2008″

Section 14 states:

Spamming: Whoever transmits harmful, fraudulent, misleading, illegal or unsolicited electronic messages in bulk to any person without the express permission of the recipient, or causes any electronic system to show any such message or involves in falsified online user account registration or falsified domain name registration for commercial purpose commits the offence of spamming.

Whoever commits the offence of spamming shall be punishable with fine not exceeding fifty thousand rupees if he commits this offence of spamming for the first time and for every subsequent commission of offence of spamming he shall be punished with imprisonment of three months or with fine, or with both.

“Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2008″

Section 15 states:

Spoofing: Whoever establishes a website, or sends an electronic message with a counterfeit source intended to be believed by the recipient or visitor or its electronic system to be an authentic source with intent to gain unauthorized access or obtain valuable information which later can be used for any lawful purposes commits the offence of spoofing.

Whoever commits the offence of spoofing specified shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.

“Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2008″

Section 16 states:

Unauthorized interception: Whoever without lawful authority intercepts by technical means, transmissions of data to, from or within an electronic system including electromagnetic system carrying such data commits the offence of unauthorized interception. The punishment for the offence of unauthorized interception shall be imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine not exceeding five hundred thousand rupees or with both.

“Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2008″

Section 17 states:

Cyber terrorism: Any person, group or organization who, with terroristic intent utilizes, accesses or causes to be accessed a computer or computer network or electronic system or electronic device or by any available means, and thereby knowingly engages in or attempts to engage in a terroristic act commits the offence of cyber terrorism.

Whoever commits the offence of cyber terrorism and causes death of any person shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life, and with fine and in any other cause he shall be punishable with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years or with fine not less than ten million rupees or with both.

“Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2008″

Section 18 states:

Enhanced punishment for offences involving sensitive electronic systems:

Whoever cause criminal access to any sensitive electronic system in the course of the commission of any of the offences established under this Ordinance shall in addition to the punishment prescribed for that offence, be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, or with fine not exceeding one million rupees, or with both.

“Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2008″

Section 19 states:

Of abets, aids or attempts to commits offence: Any person who knowingly and willfully abets the commission of or who aids to commit or does any act preparatory to or in furtherance of the commission of any offence under this Ordinance shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable on conviction to the punishment provided for the offence.

Any person who attempts to commit an offence under this Ordinance shall be punished for a term which may extend to one-half of the longest term of imprisonment provided for that offence.

“Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2008″

Section 20 states:

Other Offences: Whoever commits any offence, other than those expressly provided under this Ordinance with the help of computer electronic system, electronic device or any other electronic means shall be punished in addition to the punishment provided for that offence, with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine not exceeding two hundred thousand rupees or with both.

“Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2008″

Section 21 states:

Offences by corporate body.

A corporate body shall be held liable for an offence under this Ordinance of the offence is committed on its instructions or for its benefit. The corporate body shall be punished with fine not less than one hundred thousand rupees or the amount involved in the offence whichever is the higher Provided that such punishment shall not absolve the criminal liability of the natural person who has committed the offence.

Corporate body includes a body of persons incorporated under any law such as trust, waqf, an association, a statutory body or a company.

InfoSec 2008 – International Conference on Information Security

Posted on August 23, 2008

Total Communications in partnership with Pakistan Software Export Board [ PSEB ] and National Response Center for Cyber Crime [ NR3C ], has organized an international conference on information security in Islamabad on August 27, 2008.

The conference is sponsored by PSEB, Oracle, SAP, Cybernet, Microsoft, Nortel & IBM.

The event will be inaugurated by Mr. Rehman Malik, Adviser to Ministry of Interior, Government of Pakistan. Prominent speakers/presenters include Mr. Ammar Jaffri, Project Director NR3C, FIA; Dr. M. Yaseen, Chairman PTA; Mr. Tariq Pervaz, DG FIA; Shahid Ahmed Khan, COO Cybernet; Mr. Talib Baloch, MD PSEB; Mr. Hifz-ur-Rehman, Secretary IT & Telecom, Government of Pakistan, etc.

Please Contact Us for legal consultation with regards to electronic & cyber crime in Pakistan.

Competition Law in Pakistan

Posted on November 19, 2007

At a time when the country’s international credibility is at a low thanks to the mixed political signals being given by the government, one would have expected more to be done to allay fears of investors so that economic prospects were not hurt.

If the government cannot offer more incentives to foreign investors, it should also not take steps to make them uneasy either. But this is exactly what seems to have happened with the recent promulgation of the Competition Ordinance 2007. The ordinance seems to have been finalized and promulgated without consulting all the stakeholders or inviting their comments. In commercial matters, it is the norm to elicit feedback from industry and experts.

In the case of company law, this is the practice adopted when any changes are to be made. For the Competition Ordinance, this was not done. Foreign investors say that they see a number of anomalies in the ordinance. The law envisages wide-ranging, arbitrary powers with harsh penalties introduced without proper consultation, which pose high risks, in particular in the conduct of raids and in criminal proceedings against officials of companies. One should understand that price-fixing arrangements are seldom documented so it is difficult to understand the rationale for conducting the raids.

There are questions also about the suitability of those who have been hired to run the commission and also what the focus of the body will be.It has to be recalled that the commission was formed after an outcry from various quarters over the inaction of the government in curbing cartels and business monopolies and the inability of the Monopoly Control Authority to address these complaints. While the Competition Commission has been given more teeth, one is puzzled as to why the commission seems more intent at targeting the corporate sector instead of going after the powerful monopolies and cartels that exist. The brunt of this law will fall on the regulated and documented businesses. The unregulated and undocumented informal sector has nothing to fear despite the fact that it remains responsible for a high percentage of essential supplies to consumer whose interests the law claims to protect. It is the cartels that need to be checked first since they are robbing the people and not giving anything in return. Proper debate on the Competition Commission should be held and the bureaucrats in Islamabad should stop acting as judge and jury.

There should be a mechanism for dialogue with trade and industry which is not there. The government has to take along the corporate sector as it is in the long-term interest of the country to keep foreign investors satisfied with the overall investment climate. Foreign investment not only means earning valuable foreign exchange but also jobs and higher tax revenues for the government.

Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=81305

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