ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS AND CYBER SECURITY

CHAPTER 74:02
ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS AND CYBER SECURITY

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

    SECTION

PART I
PRELIMINARY PROVISIONS

    1.    Short title

    2.    Interpretation

    3.    Objectives

    4.    Principles

    5.    Implementation of this Act

PART II
ADMINISTRATION

    6.    Establishment of the Malawi CERT

PART III
FORMATION AND VALIDITY OF ELECTRONIC TRANSACTIONS

    7.    Recognition of electronic writing

    8.    Electronic signature

    9.    Equal treatment of electronic signature

    10.    Conduct of a person relying on a digital signature

    11.    Bearing legal consequences of relying on electronic signature

    12.    Recognition of digital signature certificates and digital signatures

    13.    Notarization, acknowledgement and certification

    14.    Other requirements

    15.    Determination of originality of an electronic message

    16.    Admissibility and evidential weight of electronic messages

    17.    Storage of electronic messages

    18.    Secure electronic record

    19.    Validity of a contract executed in electronic form

    20.    Time and place of dispatch and receipt of an electronic message

    21.    Offer and acceptance

    22.    Attribution of electronic messages to sender

    23.    Acknowledgement of receipt of an electronic message

PART IV
LIABILITY OF ONLINE INTERMEDIARIES AND CONTENT EDITORS AND PROTECTION OF ONLINE USERS

    24.    Freedom of communication and its limitations

    25.    Liability of an intermediary service provider

    26.    Liability for being a conduit

    27.    Liability for caching services

    28.    Liability for the supply of hosting services

    29.    Saving of data

    30.    Takedown notification

    31.    Online content providers

    32.    Right of reply

PART V
ELECTRONIC COMMERCE

    33.    Information to be provided by a supplier

    34.    Formation of electronic contracts with consumers

    35.    Cooling-off period

    36.    Performance of an electronic transaction

    37.    Default in contract performance

    38.    Review and cancellation of contract by a consumer

    39.    Cancellation of payment

    40.    Prohibition of misleading advertising

    41.    Identification of advertisement content

    42.    Unsolicited communications

    43.    Scope of application of financial provisions

    44.    Identity of a provider of financial or banking services

    45.    Right of withdrawal from a contract

PART VI
SECURITY AND DIGITAL ECONOMY

    46.    Use, supply, transfer, etc.

    47.    Presumptions regarding digital signature certificates

    48.    Unreliable digital signatures

    49.    Reliance on digital signature and certificate

    50.    Requirements to publish digital signature certificate

    51.    Authority to appoint a certification authority

    52.    Encryption

    53.    Trustworthy system

    54.    Disclosure

    55.    Issuance of a digital signature certificate

    56.    Representations upon issuance of a digital signature certificate

    57.    Suspension of a digital signature certificate

    58.    Revocation of a digital signature certificate

    59.    Revocation without a subscriber’s consent

    60.    Notice of suspension of a digital signature certificate

    61.    Notification of revocation of a digital signature certificate

    62.    Generating a key pair

    63.    Accurate and complete representations

    64.    Acceptance of a digital signature certificate

    65.    Control of a private key

    66.    Requesting for suspension or revocation

    67.    Provision of encryption services

    68.    Administrative sanctions

    69.    Appointment of cyber inspectors

    70.    Powers and functions of a cyber inspector

PART VII

    71.–74.

PART VIII
DOMAIN NAME AND MANAGEMENT

    75.    Appointment of the Registrar of domain names

    76.    Functions and powers of the Registrar

    77.    Recommendations relating to domain names

    78.    Offence of administering domain name without authority

    79.    Dispute resolution concerning domain names

PART IX
ELECTRONIC-GOVERNMENT TRANSACTIONS

    80.    Requirement of electronic filing and issuing of documents

    81.    Specific guidelines to public bodies

    82.    Implementation of e-government

PART X
OFFENCES

    83.    Search warrant

    84.    Unauthorized access, interception or interference with data

    85.    Child pornography

    86.    Prohibition of cyber harassment

    87.    Prohibition of offensive communication

    88.    Prohibition of cyber stalking

    89.    Prohibition of hacking, cracking and introduction of viruses

    90.    Unlawfully disabling a computer system

    91.    Prohibition of spamming

    92.    Prohibition of illegal trade and commerce

    93.    Attempting, aiding and abetting crime

    94.    Offences committed by legal persons

    95.    General offence and penalty

PART XI
GENERAL PROVISIONS

    96.    Lodging of complaints to the Authority

    97.    Public education programmes

    98.    Intermediary service providers’ levy

    99.    Codes of conduct

    100.    Act to prevail in case of inconsistency

    101.    Administrative penalties

    102.    Regulations

    103.    Exemption orders

    104.    Transitional provision

33 of 2016
2 of 2024
G.N. 25/2017

    An Act to make provision for electronic transactions; for the establishment and functions of the Malawi Computer Emergency Response Team (MCERT); to make provision for criminalizing offences related to computer systems and information communication technologies; and provide for investigation, collection and use of electronic evidence;…