Lebanon

Summary

Lebanon has no comprehensive, standalone data-protection law and no dedicated cybercrime statute separate from Law No. 81 of 2018 on Electronic Transactions and Personal Data. Law 81/2018 contains data-protection provisions (Part II, Arts. 26–71) that require a lawful basis for processing personal data, consent for sensitive categories, and cross-border transfer restrictions, but the law has never been fully implemented — no independent supervisory authority has been established, and enforcement defaults to the Ministry of Economy and Trade with limited specialized capacity. Cybercrime procedures under Arts. 72–74 and Art. 124 address unauthorized access and fraud but have not been applied to scraping in any published judgment. The general Penal Code (Legislative Decree 340/1943) contains no computer-specific provisions; its privacy articles (Arts. 579–581 on violation of secrets) are a weak backstop at most. The 2019–present economic crisis and political paralysis have severely constrained legal development and regulatory capacity. Law 81/2018 has no TDM exception and no EU-style sui generis database right. Confidence is low because of governance collapse, lack of implementing regulations, and absence of case law.