Guyana

Summary

Guyana is a common-law jurisdiction (former British colony) with two recently enacted digital laws. The Cybercrime Act 2018 (Act No. 16 of 2018, Extraordinary Gazette 13 August 2018) is in force and criminalises illegal access to computer systems and data interference following the Budapest Convention model; the "without right" requirement means publicly accessible pages carry implicit authorisation. The Data Protection Act 2023 (Act No. 18 of 2023, signed 16 August 2023) establishes a comprehensive data-protection regime with a Data Protection Commissioner and GYD 20 million fines; however, as of April 2026, no commencement order has been issued to bring the Act into force (confirmed: Demerara Waves, November 2025; Newsroom Guyana, April 2026). The Digital Identity Card Act 2023 commenced March 31, 2026, but the DPA 2023 had not commenced at that time; the government states sensitive personal data will only be requested once the DPA is operational. A Data Commissioner has reportedly been appointed but the Data Protection Agency is not yet established. Copyright is governed by the Copyright Act (Cap. 68:01), a colonial-era statute with narrow fair-dealing exceptions following the UK 1956 Act tradition; no TDM exception and no sui generis database right. This field is fast-moving as the DPA 2023 is expected to commence imminently.