Octopus Cybercrime Community

Initially, Angola’s cybercrime legislation was concentrated in Lei nº. 7/17, Protecção das Redes e Sistemas Informáticos (Law no. 7/17 Protection of Information Systems and Networks Law, 16 Feb 2017), which dealt mostly with procedural issues. However, 2020 brought a completion of Angola’s cybercrime legislation with updates in its criminal code and criminal procedure code, covering both substantive and procedural issues.

Angola become a party to the Malabo Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection in February 2020, following Resolução nº. 33/19 (Resolution 33/2019).

A new Penal Code was passed in 2020 (Lei n.º 38/20, Código Penal Angolano/ CPA, 11 Nov 2020), which includes substantive provisions on cybercrime corresponding to all the articles in the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime.

Additional relevant definitions and/or provisions can be found in the Lei nº. 7/17, Protecção das Redes e Sistemas Informáticos (Law no. 7/2017 Protection of Information Systems and Networks Law), Regulamento Geral das Comunicações Electrónicas (General Regulation of Electronic Communications, 25 May 2016), the Constitution of the Republic of Angola (2010), and Lei n.° 15/14, dos Direitos de Autor e Conexos (Law No. 15/2014, on Copyright and Related Rights).

A new Code of Criminal Procedure was passed in 2020 (Lei n.º 39/20: Código do Processo Penal Angolano/ CPPA, 11 Nov 2020), which complements/expands the provisions of the Lei nº. 7/17 Protecção das Redes e Sistemas Informáticos (Law no. 7/2017 Protection of Information Systems and Networks Law), in particular with provisions that could be used to ensure the expedited preservation of data and interception of content data.

Some of challenging areas still remain, for example, with respect to corresponding national provisions to address Article 18 (production order) in the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime implemented generally by Article 36 of the Lei nº. 7/17 Protecção das Redes e Sistemas Informáticos

The Constitution of the Republic of Angola (2010) includes access to courts and effective judicial protection of the citizens (Article 29), respect for privacy (Article 32), protection of communications (Article 34), freedom of expression (Article 40), and the provision of public defence (Article 196) among others.

Lei n.º 39/20, Código do Processo Penal Angolano (Law no. 39/2020, Code of Criminal Procedure) also provides some guarantees of due process.

• Constituição Da República De Angola (Constitution 2010);
• Lei n.º 38/20, Código Penal Angolano (Criminal Code, 11 Nov 2020);
• Lei n.º 39/20, Código do Processo Penal Angolano (Code of Criminal Procedure, 11 Nov 2020);
• Lei n.º 1/17: Lei de Imprensa (repeals Lei n.º 7/06 Lei de Imprensa, 15 May 2006);
• Lei n.° 15/14, dos Direitos de Autor e Conexos (Law No. 15/14, on Copyright and Related Rights, 31 July 2014);
• Lei 22/11, Protecção de Dados Pessoais (Law no. 22/11, Data Protection Law, 17 June 2011);
• Lei nº. 7/17 Protecção das Redes e Sistemas Informáticos (Law no. 7/17 Protection of Information Systems and Networks Law, 16 Feb 2017);
• Regulamento Geral das Comunicações Electrónicas (General Regulation of Electronic Communications, 25 May 2016, as approved by Decreto Presidencial n.º 108/16)
• Decreto Presidencial n.º 202/11 Regulamento das Tecnologias e dos Serviços da Sociedade da Informação (Presidential Decree n.º 202/11, Regulation of Technologies and Services of the Information Society);
• Lei n.º 23/11, das Comunicações electrónicas e dos serviços da sociedade da informação (Law 23/11 on Electronic communications and information society services, 20 June 2011);
• Lei n.º 13/15, da Cooperacao judiciaria internacional em materia penal (Law 13/2015 on international judicial cooperation in criminal matters)
• Lei n.º 4/11, Sobre os Tratados Internacionais (Law 4/2011 on International Treaties).

Legal Framework

There are two key laws that govern international cooperation in general and mutual legal assistance in particular. Lei n.º 4/11, Sobre os Tratados Internacionais (Law 4/2011 on International Treaties) provides the general rules under which the Angolan state concludes treaties.

Lei N.º 13/15, da Cooperacao judiciaria internacional em materia penal (Law 13/2015 on international judicial cooperation in criminal matters), provides the key legal framework that governs mutual legal assistance. Article 1 specifies that national authorities are entitled to put in practice international judicial cooperation in criminal matters with respect to extradition, transfer of criminal proceedings, execution of criminal sentences, transfer of sentenced persons, surveillance of convicted or conditionally released persons and other mutual legal assistance measures in criminal matters.

This cooperation is based on the international treaties ratified by the country (Article 4), but also based on the principle of reciprocity (Article 5) and dual criminality (Article 6).

In general, the permission to cooperate includes the possibility to intercept communications (Article 21) on behalf of another state (Articles 162 and 175), as well as with respect to other cybercrime procedural matters: expedited preservation of data (covered by Articles 169 to 172) and access to data stored in Angola (Article 173) by other states; Article 32 (transborder access to data) is addressed by Article 174; a permanent contact point for the purposes of international cooperation on cybercrime and digital evidence is foreseen as well in Article 168.

Competent authorities and channels

The international cooperation is processed according to the model of a central authority, which is, in practice, the Attorney-General’s Office (Ministério Público).