The Government of the Cook Islands today tabled the Cybercrime Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 in Parliament, a significant step in modernising the country’s criminal law to address the harms and threats that have come with the digital age.
The Bill, introduced by the Minister of Foreign Affairs & Immigration Hon. Tingika Elikana, makes targeted amendments to five existing statutes. These are the Crimes Act 1969, the Criminal Procedure Act 1980-81, the Evidence Act 1968, the Police Act 2012, and the Telecommunications Act 2019. Together, the amendments will ensure that the law keeps pace with how Cook Islanders live, work, and communicate today.
“Our online connections have brought enormous benefits to our homes, our workplaces, and our communities, but they have also brought new risks into our lives. As a Government, we have a duty to make sure our laws keep pace with the way our people are now living,” said Minister Elikana.
“This Bill is about protecting Cook Islanders, our families, our children, our businesses, and our institutions, from harms that simply did not exist when our Crimes Act was written in 1969. It closes critical gaps in our statute book and gives our Police, our Courts, and our prosecutors the mandates and modern tools they need to do their jobs effectively and within our evolving digital context.”
The Bill creates a new suite of pure cybercrime offences. These include unauthorised access to a computer system, damaging or interfering with a computer system, and the unauthorised interception of private communications. It also creates two new online harm offences: intentionally causing serious emotional harm through digital communications, and sharing intimate visual recordings without consent.
In one of the Bill’s most significant child-protection measures, the Bill creates new technology-neutral offences criminalising every step of the chain, from production to access, of child sexual exploitation material. Under the Bill, telecommunications service providers will, for the first time, be expressly permitted to block access to such material where the blocking mechanism has been approved by the Attorney-General.
“There is no place in our country, online or offline, for those who would harm our children. This Bill makes that absolutely clear,” said Prime Minister Hon. Mark Brown.
The Bill also clarifies that Police may seek search warrants for computer systems and electronic devices, and modernises the rules of evidence so that electronic records and digital evidence can be properly admitted in our Courts.
Commenting on the introduction of the Bill, the Prime Minister emphasised that the Bill is the first of several legislative steps the Government is taking to strengthen the country’s national security framework.
“This Bill is an important first step. It is part of ongoing work to strengthen our legislative framework so that the Cook Islands remains a safe, secure, and resilient nation. In due course, our Government also intends to bring forward a National Security Bill and a Privacy Bill, which together will give our country a modern foundation for the security and trust our people deserve. The sequencing of our work in this space is deliberate – it is about ensuring we build carefully towards our national security priorities in a way that supports and enhances our existing structures, while at the same time, addressing those gaps that require new mandates and tools.”
The Bill aligns with the Government’s national priorities, including the National Sustainable Development Agenda 2020+ pledge To Tatou paruru’anga Ipukarea, Our security, the Cook Islands National Security Policy, and the Cook Islands Cyber Security Policy. Where relevant, its provisions are also consistent with international best practice, as codified in arrangements such as the international Budapest Convention on Cybercrime.
The Bill has been developed through close consultation with the Crown Law Office, the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Justice, the Cook Islands Police Service, the Financial Intelligence Unit, and the Financial Supervisory Commission. It was drafted under instruction from Crown Law, by the New Zealand Parliamentary Counsel Office.
