CRIMINAL LIABILITY FOR CYBER CRIMES IN THE BRICS COUNTRIES

Abstract

One of the cooperation areas between the BRICS countries is tackling the misuse of information and communication technologies for criminal activities. The number of cybercrimes is growing every year. Criminal regulation of cybercrimes in each country differs. This article aims to identify the features of criminal liability for cybercrimes in the BRICS countries and to offer prospects for developing joint legislation initiatives. The principal focus here is on cybercrimes provisions in legal acts of the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Russian Federation, the Republic of India, the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of South Africa. The main finding of the research is that the criminal law of each country includes different corpus delicti dealing with digital space. Understanding of cybercrimes differs too. The article proposes to enact a common BRICS countries document that would contain a shared knowledge of cybercrimes and their types. It is possible to consider two groups of cybercrimes: special cybercrimes committed in the field of computer information and general criminal cybercrimes executed using information technology to commit any common criminal offences. The research results can help to study the problems of criminal responsibility for cybercrimes in the BRICS countries, to analyse the practice of applying the considered rules.