ARGENTINA

On August 13, the Senate Committee on Justice and Criminal Legislation agreed on a working agenda to discuss the bill to reform the Criminal Code. On August 20, the Committee will begin a series of meetings with experts in the field to stimulate debate. The Executive’s initiative includes cyber-crime.

The text acknowledges the existence of new computer crimes, such as computer attacks, computer theft and fraud, computer damage and illegal access to computer data. At the same time, it proposes setting a prison sentence for anyone who edits, reproduces or obtains a work, interpretation or phonogram for any physical or virtual support with the intention of obtaining an economic benefit without the authorization of the holder of the work’s rights. The same would be imposed on anyone offering or exhibiting illegal copies.    

It should be noted that, given the context of the elections (and the country’s economic crisis), it is unlikely that the committee will be able to pass this bill before year-end. However, as part of the                                                                   Justice Committee meeting, which failed to reach a quorum, the legislators making it up defined weekly meetings with invited specialists in order to add their opinions. 

The first meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 20. At the request of ruling party Senator Federico Pinedo (PRO), the members of the drafting committee for the draft bill to reform the Penal Code drawn up by Frente Para la Victoria (FPV) in 2014 (this initiative has no parliamentary status and will not be taken into account) will be summoned. Other key figures invited are León Arslanián, María Elena Barbagelata, Ricardo Gil Lavedra, Federico Pinedo and Eugenio Zaffaroni.