Law No. 2017-20 on the Digital Code of the Republic of Benin was examined in detail at a conference organised by the Digital Development Agency in Cotonou on 8 January 2019. During the conference, participants discussed the challenges and stakes of the Code, e-commerce, cybercrime and cybersecurity, personal data protection, and the criminal provisions laid down in the Code.
“This conference will make it possible to examine the various books and articles in greater depth and to explore the different issues further. It is by talking about this code that we manage to grasp its substance,” said Aurélie Adam Soulé Zoumarou, Minister of Digital Economy and Communication. Over time, digital technology has become an indispensable instrument of development. But its use, in Benin as everywhere else, also gives rise to abuses.
Promulgated on 20 April 2018, this legal instrument establishes a dynamic and more reliable legal framework that addresses the concerns of the sector. However, its provisions remain little known to the general public.
At the opening of this conference and debate, Serge Edgard Koudjo, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Communication, observed that “the digital sector is a cross-cutting sector. It is one of the few sectors that provide inputs for the other sectors of economic, social, recreational and family activity.”
This text fills a gap in the economic sector. Indeed, it was Ordinance 2002-002 on the fundamental principles of the telecommunications regime that governed the sector until 2014, Serge Edgard Koudjo recalled. That text was unable to resolve the problems related to the operation of telecommunications. Hence the need to regulate the sector so that digital tools can be used to best effect.
This is what justified the adoption of Law No. 2017-20 of 20 April 2018 on the Digital Code of the Republic of Benin. Under Article 2 of that law, “The purpose of the Digital Code is to govern activities relating to electronic communications service networks, electronic tools, trust services in the digital economy, e-commerce, personal data protection, cybercrime and cybersecurity.”
According to Serge Adjovi, Director of the Digital Development Agency, the Digital Code marks the completion of a reform, an ambition set out in the Government Action Programme.
“This document is of paramount importance. It is a document that will enable us to make an impact in various areas, whether the digitisation of procedures, e-commerce or security… Digital technology is going to transform the life of every Beninese citizen,” he stated.