Antigua and Barbuda - Octopus Cybercrime Community

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Status regarding Budapest Convention

Status : NA See legal profile

Cybercrime policies/strategies

The Government of Antigua and Barbuda, through the Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and Telecommunications, developed a draft Policy for Information and Communication Technologies. The policy has six objectives:

Grant access for citizens to become active participants in the global village network;
Telecommunications to function as a catalyst for economic growth and development;
Creation of a dynamic ICT industry to provide employment opportunities and ensure benefits from the converging areas of telecommunications, broadcasting and information technology;
Training of personnel to provide leadership and guidance;
Independent telecommunications regulatory authority to regulate in a transparent, nondiscriminatory and accountable manner and facilitate effective competition; and
Social objectives in education, health, commerce, governance systems and national security will be enhanced and achieved by the use of ICT services and techniques.

Cybercrime legislation

State of cybercrime legislation

Antigua and Barbuda adopted a specific Electronic Crimes Act in 2013, amended by the Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Act in 2018.

Substantive law

Section 2 of the Electronic Crimes Act (2013) defines access, damage, data, function and electronic database, device and system as well as service provider, subscriber and subscriber information, traffic data and unauthorised access.

The Electronic Crimes Act (2013) criminalises:

Illegal access (section 3, (1), a)
Illegal interception (section 3 (1), b and c)
Data interference (section 3, (1), i)
System interference (section 3 (1), e, f, g and h)
Child pornography (section 2 (definition) and section 10)

The Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Act in 2018 amended the criminalisation of:

Misuse of devices (section 8)
Computer related forgery (section 5)
Computer related fraud (section 6)

Procedural law

The Electronic Crimes Act (2013) includes specific procedural measures, applicable to all investigations related to cybercrime, to crimes committed by the means of computer systems and to all criminal investigations where digital evidence is required. Part III on Investigations and Procedures on:

preservation order (section 16),
disclosure of preserved data order (section 17),
production order (section 18), and amended by the Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Act of 2018
powers of access, search and seizure for the purpose of investigation (section 19) and amended by the Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Act of 2018,
real time collection of traffic data (section 20) and amended by the Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Act of 2018.

Safeguards

The Constitution of Antigua and Barbuda (1981) enshrines in its Chapter II “Protection of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms of the Individual” the following rights:

Protection of right to life (section 4)
Protection from deprivation of property (section 9)
Protection of person or property from arbitrary search or entry (section 10)
Provision to secure protection of the law (section 15)

Related laws and regulations

The Telecommunications Bill of 2021 provides regulations regarding:

Data protection (part XII),
Access, search and seizure (section 130)
Disclosure of preserved data (section 138)
Limited use of disclosed data and information (section 140)
Unlawful interception and disclosure of communication by a licensee or any officer, employee or agent (section 142)
Harmful interference and unlawful access (section 147)
Confidentiality and disclosure of personal information (section 155)

The Data Protection Act (2013) provides principles on privacy and data protection (part II) and rights of data subjects (part III).

The Electronic Evidence Act (2013) sets out the principle of admissibility of electronic evidence (part II).

The Copyright Act (2003) in its Part V on “Infringement of Rights” criminalises acts of infringing copyright.

The Criminal Procedure Act (1873).

The Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act (1993) provides rules between Antigua and Barbuda and Commonwealth countries (sections 7 and 19), and the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Amendment Act (2020) inserted provisions on the mutual assistance for other than Commonwealth countries (section 30B).

Specialised institutions

Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda

Director of Public Prosecutions

International cooperation

Competent authorities and channels

The Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act (1993) provides enabling powers for mutual assistance between Commonwealth countries (section 7). It was amended by the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters (Amendment) Act of 2020 to including countries other than Commonwealth countries (section 30B). The Attorney General is in charge of assistance in criminal matters. However, there are no specific provisions enabling international cooperation with respect to electronic evidence or associated specialised powers.

Antigua and Barbuda is a member of the International Telecommunication Union-IMPACT initiative.