violence, chaos or conflict among people shall be punishable with rigorous
imprisonment not exceeding three years.
15. Dissemination of Spam
1/ Whosoever, with intent to advertise or sell any product or service, disseminates
messages to multiple e-mail addresses at a time shall be punishable with simple
imprisonment not exceeding three years and fine or, in serious case, with rigorous
imprisonment not exceeding five years and fine not exceeding Birr 50,000.
2/ Notwithstanding the provision of sub-article (1) of this Article, dissemination of
commercial advertisement through email account shall not be punishable provided
that:
a) there is prior consent from the recipient;
b) the primary purpose of the advertisement is to introduce customers with new
products or services and the customers have willing; or
c) the advertisement contains valid identity and address of the sender, and valid and
simple way for the recipient to reject or unsubscribe receipt of further advertisement
from the same source.
16. Criminal Liability of Service Providers
A service provider shall be criminally liable in accordance with Articles 12 to 14, of
this Proclamation for any illegal computer content data disseminated through its
computer systems by third parties, if it has:
1/ directly involved in the dissemination or edition of the content data;
2/ upon obtaining actual knowledge that the content data is illegal, failed to take any
measure to remove or to disable access to the content data; or
3/ failed to take appropriate measure to remove or to disable access to the content data
upon obtaining notice from competent administrative authorities.
SECTION FOUR – OTHER OFFENCES
17. Failure to Cooperate and Hindrance of Investigation
Whosoever:
1/ fails to comply with the obligations provided for under sub-article (2) of Article 23,
sub-article (6) of Article 24, sub-article (2) of Article 29, sub-article (2) of Article 30
or sub-article (4) of Article 31 of this Proclamation, shall be punishable with simple
imprisonment not exceeding one year or fine;