Proclamation No. ……/2016
A PROCLAMATION TO PROVIDE FOR THE
COMPUTER CRIME
WHEREAS information and communication technology plays a vital role in the
economic, social and political development of the country;
WHEREAS unless appropriate protection and security measures are taken, the
utilization of information communication technology is vulnerable to various computer
crimes and other security threats that can impede the overall development of the country
and endanger individual rights;
WHEREAS the existing laws are not adequately tuned with the technological
changes and are not sufficient to prevent, control, investigate and prosecute the suspects
of computer crimes;
WHEREAS it has become necessary to incorporate new legal mechanisms and
procedures in order to prevent, control, investigate and prosecute computer crimes and
facilitate the collection of electronic evidences;
NOW, THEREFORE, in accordance with Article 55(1) of the Constitution
of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, it is hereby proclaimed as follows:
PART ONE
GENERAL
1.

Short Title
This Proclamation may be cited as the “Computer Crime Proclamation No. ---------------/2016”.

2.

Definitions
In this Proclamation unless the context otherwise requires:
1/

“data processing service” means the service of reception, storage,
processing, emission, routing or transmission of data by means of
computer system and includes networking services;

2/

“computer or computer system” means any software and the microchips
technology based data processing, storage, analysis, dissemination and
communication device or any device that is capable of performing logical,
arithmetic or routing function and includes accessories of that device;

3/

“computer data” means any content data, traffic data, computer program,
or any other subscriber information in a form suitable for processing by
means of a computer system;

4/

“computer program” means a set of instructions or commands expressed
in words, codes or schemes which are capable of causing a computer
system to perform or achieve a particular task or result;

Select target paragraph3