TongaComputer Crimes Act 2003, unauthorised access
Computer Crimes Act, 2003 (Act 14 of 2003), s. 4 (Illegal access)
A computer misuse rule binding public and private bodies.
- How the hook was established
- express
- What makes it apply
- Operator establishment
- Obligation class
- Access restriction
- Audit expectation
- none
What it requires
- This Act is repealed and no longer binds; see the Computer Crimes Act 2025, section 6, for Tonga's current offence of unauthorised access to or modification of computer data.
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Private right of actionNo
Criminal exposure note
A fine of up to TOP 10,000 or imprisonment of up to two years, or both, on conviction for wilfully accessing any computer system without lawful excuse (s. 4(2)). A separate, higher penalty of a fine of up to TOP 100,000 or imprisonment of up to twenty years, or both, applies to accessing a 'protected computer' tied to critical infrastructure (s. 4(3)).
Penalty structure
This is the base unauthorised-access tier under s. 4(2), stated in the Act's text in dollars, understood as Tongan pa'anga. Accessing a 'protected computer' tied to critical infrastructure carries a higher fixed cap of TOP 100,000 and imprisonment of up to twenty years under s. 4(3).
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- TOP
- Fixed cap
- 10,000
What it makes you log
Logging duty
Section 4 makes it an offence to access any computer system wilfully and without lawful excuse, with a heavier penalty for a protected computer. It imposes no duty to create, keep, produce or review a log or record. Section 3 gives the Act effect against an offender outside the Kingdom as if the accused, or the computer, program or data, were in the Kingdom at the material time; the limb that turns on where the computer or data sits carries no hook value. The police preservation power in section 13 (a notice to preserve data for up to 7 days) and the Act's production and traffic-data powers sit outside the section this row cites.
- Kind
- None
- As of
What this law does
Section 4(2) made it an offence for a person to wilfully, without lawful excuse, access any computer system, on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or imprisonment not exceeding two years, or both; unlike some other jurisdictions' computer-misuse statutes, the offence does not require that the accused defeat a security measure to gain access.
Section 4(3) set a materially higher penalty, a fine not exceeding $100,000 or imprisonment not exceeding twenty years, or both, where the computer accessed is a 'protected computer' tied to security, defence, or international relations; the identity of a confidential law-enforcement source; communications, banking, financial, public-utility, transport, or public-key infrastructure; or public-safety and emergency services, and the accused knew or ought reasonably to have known of that use.
Section 3(1) of the Interpretation Act, as it stood in 2003, provides that an Act to which His Majesty's Assent has been given comes into operation on the day on which it receives His Majesty's Assent, unless the contrary intention appears. The Computer Crimes Act 2003 contains no provision on the day it comes into operation. The Act carries the King's assent dated . Section 78(1) of the Computer Crimes Act 2025 (Act 15 of 2025) repeals the Computer Crimes Act.
The Computer Crimes Act 2025 comes into force, under its Section 1(2), on a date proclaimed by Cabinet. Cabinet proclaimed that the Computer Crimes Act 2025 would come into force on . Section 78(2) of the 2025 Act saves any offence committed under the repealed Act and any proceeding pending under it.
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