Cyber Crime Act of Fiji 2021 (Act) – Update

Except for section 34, the Act came into force on 14 November 2022.

Now that the new Act has come into law, sections 336 to 346 of the Crimes Act which currently deal with computer offences will be repealed. The new Act will bring into effect specific computer offences such as financial extortion, online identify theft and online forgery.

Section 34 makes provision for a “24/7 Network” point of contact.

Interestingly, section 17 of the Act was cited in the recent case of Attorney General of Fiji v Richard Krishan Naidu - HBC 202 of 2022 delivered on 22 November 2022. In that case, the High Court of Fiji accepted that a Facebook Screenshot was admissible evidence - and held that section 17 (1) of the Act does not require the authentication or identification as condition precedent to the admissibility of such evidence in Court.

For more details on the Act and what it means, please see our previous article “Tackling modern day extortion: the Cybercrime Act of Fiji”.