Marshall IslandsCriminal Code 2011, Violation of Privacy (unlawful eavesdropping, surveillance, and breach of privacy of messages)
Criminal Code 2011, 31 MIRC Ch. 1, sec. 250.12
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In force since 17 October 2011.
An enforcement supervision rule binding public and private bodies.
As of 19 September 2026.
What it requires
- Do not trespass on property, or install a hidden device, with intent to eavesdrop on, observe, photograph, or record sounds or events in a private place, without the consent of the person entitled to privacy there.
- Do not install or use, outside a private place, a device that hears, records, amplifies, or broadcasts sounds originating in that place that would not ordinarily be audible or comprehensible outside, without the consent of the person entitled to privacy there.
- Do not knowingly intercept a telephone, telegraph, facsimile, electronic-mail, letter, or other private communication without the consent of the sender or the receiver.
- Do not divulge the existence or contents of a private message without the consent of the sender or receiver if you know it was illegally intercepted, or if you learned of it in the course of employment with an agency engaged in transmitting it.
- A violation is a misdemeanour, punishable under the Code's general sentencing provisions by a fine of up to $1,000 and imprisonment for a term, fixed by the court, of up to one year.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Criminal exposure note
Section 250.12 is a misdemeanour; the Code's general sentencing provisions cap a misdemeanour's fine at $1,000 (sec. 6.03(1)(c)) and its term of imprisonment, as fixed by the court, at one year (sec. 6.08).
Penalty structure
Section 250.12 states no penalty of its own. The Code's general provisions for a misdemeanour conviction set the cap: a fine not exceeding $1,000 (sec. 6.03(1)(c)) and a definite term of imprisonment, fixed by the court, not exceeding one year (sec. 6.08).
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- 7 September 2026
- Currency
- USD
- Fixed cap
- 1,000
What it reaches
Obligation class
Prohibition
What this law does
Drafted with AI from the cited sources under the direction of UnGovr staff. UnGovr holds editorial responsibility for this page.
Section 250.12(1) makes it a misdemeanor, except as authorized by law, to trespass on property with intent to subject anyone to eavesdropping or other surveillance in a private place, to install in a private place, without the consent of the person entitled to privacy there, a device for observing, photographing, recording, amplifying, or broadcasting sounds or events, or to install or use outside a private place a device for hearing, recording, amplifying, or broadcasting sounds originating in that place that would not ordinarily be audible or comprehensible outside, again without that person's consent; a private place is one a person may reasonably expect to be safe from casual or hostile intrusion or surveillance, but does not include a place to which the public or a substantial group of the public has access.
Section 250.12(2)(a) separately makes it a misdemeanor to knowingly intercept, without the consent of the sender or receiver, a message by telephone, telegraph, facsimile, electronic mail, letter, or other means of communicating privately, an offence that does not extend to overhearing a message through a regularly installed telephone party line or extension, or to an interception by the telephone company or a subscriber incident to enforcing regulations that limit use of the facilities.
Section 250.12(2)(b) makes it a misdemeanor to divulge the existence or contents of such a message without the consent of the sender or receiver, where the person divulging it knows the message was illegally intercepted, or learned of it in the course of employment with an agency engaged in transmitting it.
The section states no penalty of its own; a misdemeanor under the Code's general sentencing provisions carries a fine of up to $1,000 and a definite term of imprisonment, fixed by the court, of up to one year.
When LexLint raises it
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Read from a public archive copy, not the publisher directly. The publisher does not serve this page to automated readers, so a direct fetch was not an option here; how we access sources. Archived 2020. Publisher's page: https://www.paclii.org/mh/legis/consol_act/cc201194/Every line above is drawn from the primary source linked here, read on the date shown. This is a research summary, not legal advice.