Parliament has approved a bill to criminalise cyber crime and to amend the law to allow exchange of legal assistance with other countries on information and evidence related to such crimes.

After allowing members to speak during the preliminary debate of the two bills, a vote was cast on whether the two bills would be accepted by the Parliament.

Maafushi MP Hussain Riza Adam introduced a bill sent by the government to amend the Code of Criminal Procedure to criminalise cyber crime-related activities.

The bill proposes to include offences related to cybercrime and add a clause to the code of conduct.

Introduced as Section 240 of the Act, the bill deals with computer and computer-related offences.

Under the amendment, access to a computer system without permission, interception, interference and use of computer data without permission and use of improper devices will be treated as offences, while acts of cyber violence, computer-related forgery, cheating, copyright and other related rights will also be criminalised.

Access to a computer system without permission under a court order or a permission authorised by law cannot be treated as an offence, the amendment states.

The bill also seeks to establish and criminalise the production, storage and publication of child pornography using devices as a cyber crime as well.

In order to enable exchange of legal assistance with other countries on information and evidence related to cyber crime, an amendment has been proposed to the Transfer of Legal Assistance in Criminal Cases Act.