SANCTIONS
Section 53: (1) Any person providing a telecommunication service who violates the secrecy of a
correspondence or who without the authorization of the sender or addressee, discloses, publishes or
uses the contents of such correspondence shall be punished with the penalties provided for in
Section 300 of the Penal Code.
(2) Any person who voluntarily or involuntarily uses an electromagnetic, acoustic, mechanical or
other device to intercept a private communication and discloses it shall be punished with
imprisonment of from six months to two years and a fine of from 1,000,000 to 50,000,000 CFA
francs or with one of the two penalties only.
(3) The provisions of Section 53 (1) and (2) shall not be applicable to:
(a) persons who obtained the explicit or tacit agreement of either the sender of the private
communication or the addresses to intercept and reveal the contents of the private communication;
(b) persons who intercept private communication in accordance with an authorization granted by the
State Counsel or an examining Magistrate as part of a judicial Inquiry;
(c) persons who supply telecommunication services to the public and who intercept a private
communication in any of the following cases:
- during the monitoring of the service or a random control required for technical or operational
reasons to check the supply and quality of the service;
- when the interception is necessary to supply the service;
- when the interception is required to protect their rights or property directly related to the supply of
a telecommunication service;
(d) personnel of the interministerial body in charge of the management and control of the radio
frequency spectrum when private communication is intercepted in order to identify, isolate or
obstruct the illegal use of a frequency or a transmission.
Section 54: Whoever fraudulently uses a public telecommunications network for personal or non
personal interests or uses any means to fraudulently tap a private line shall be punished with
imprisonment of from 1 (one) to 5 (five) years and a fine of from 25,000,000 to 50,000,000 CFA
francs or with one of the two penalties only.
Section 55: Whoever consciously uses the services obtained through the offences referred to in the
preceding Section shall be punished with imprisonment of from 6 (six) months to 2 (two) years and a
fine of from 12,500,000 to 25,000,000 francs or with one of the two penalties.
Section 56: Any person who sets up a network or telecommunication service, causes it to be set up,
exploits it or causes it to be exploited, supplies it or causes it to be supplied without the authorization
provided for in Sections 10, 11, 12 and 13, or continues exploiting it after a suspension or withdrawal
decision, shall be punished with imprisonment of from 1 (one) year to 5 (five) years and a fine of
25,000,000 to 50,000,000 francs.
Section 57: Whoever, without authorization, transmits signals or correspondence from one place to
another with telecommunications apparatus or by any means defined in Section 3 of this law shall be
punished with imprisonment of from 1 (one) month to 1 (one) year and a fine of from 5,000,000 to
50,000,000 francs.
Besides, the court may order the seizure of the installations, apparatus or means of transmission as
well as their destruction at the expense of the offender.