VPNs with servers in Monaco

Refusing without legitimate reason is punished with a year’s imprisonment and a fine. Article 389-11-1 of the Penal Code, created by the same law, requires operators to erase or anonymise traffic data; article 389-11-2 lets erasure be deferred for up to one year for national security, criminal investigations and the digital security agency, in categories and for periods that a sovereign ordinance fixes.

Under Law no. 1.430 of 13 July 2016 (art. 10) the Minister of State may exceptionally authorise collection from such operators of the data they process or hold, including connection identifiers, terminal location and call lists, in real time through direct network access. Whether a VPN operator is within them is not established.

Article 389-6 of the Penal Code, created by Law no. 1.435, punishes fraudulently producing, importing, holding, offering, transferring or making available equipment, programs or data designed or adapted to commit the computer offences of articles 389-1 to 389-5, and passwords or access codes obtained to commit them; it does not apply to authorised testing, research or protection of an information system.

Under Law no. 1.299 of 15 July 2005 on freedom of public expression, defamation of a private person carries one month to one year in prison and a fine. Law no. 1.464 of 10 December 2018 raised that to three months to two years where the author used a false name or identity or another means of hiding who they are, or chose the target on a protected ground.

On a judicial police officer’s request, public bodies and private legal persons must make available the information useful to establishing the truth that sits in the information systems they administer, except what a legal secret protects (art. 268-10 of the Code of Criminal Procedure).

Article 9 of Law no. 1.430 prohibits interception of electronic correspondence other than at the judicial authority’s request and under its control, on pain of one to five years’ imprisonment and a fine. The Minister of State may exceptionally authorise it for the prevention of terrorism and organised crime, the defence of Monaco’s foreign-policy and strategic interests, and its fundamental interests.

The article excludes the premises of press and online-communication companies and the homes of journalists, unless the commission referred to in article 16 has given its opinion first.

That commission has three members—one proposed by the Council of State as chair, one by the National Council, and the liberty judge—and receives every authorisation within twenty-four hours to check its regularity; a reasoned recommendation to stop an operation suspends the Minister of State’s decision. The order of the rows is the security score, and a server’s location is not a recommendation.