What Is Code du numérique (Loi n° 2017-20, as amended by Loi n° 2020-35)?
In the 28 August 2026 review, Benin's official SGG legislation portal identifies Loi n° 2017-20, promulgated on 20 April 2018, as the Code du numérique. Loi n° 2020-35 of 6 January 2021 amended Articles 121, 125, and 464, principally institutional provisions and APDP composition; no later amendment to Loi n° 2017-20 was located in the official sources reviewed. Book V and APDP materials provide a broad personal-data framework covering information duties, access, rectification, updating, locking, deletion, portability, objection, consent withdrawal, automated-decision safeguards, complaints, compensation, and judicial remedies. The Code also regulates sensitive data and international transfers, with APDP oversight and specified exceptions. The framework has unresolved procedural tensions. Specific controller deadlines include 60 days for access and 45 days for rectification or deletion, while Article 420 states a general 30-day framework with a possible 60-day extension. No harmonizing rule was located. No dedicated data-broker or public-record-specific complaint, deletion, or opt-out route was located.
At a glance
- Full name
- Code du numérique (Loi n° 2017-20, as amended by Loi n° 2020-35)
- Short code
- Code du numérique, Book V
- Jurisdiction
- Benin
- Enacted
- 2018
- Last major update
- Loi n° 2020-35 of 6 January 2021 amended institutional provisions; no later amendment to Loi n° 2017-20 was located in the official sources reviewed
- Regulator
- Autorité de Protection des Données à caractère Personnel (APDP)
- Private right of action
- Yes
- Statutory citation
- Loi n° 2017-20, Code du numérique, as amended by Loi n° 2020-35
Scope, who Code du numérique, Book V covers
Protected data
Data subject rights
Right to information about the controller, data-protection officer, purposes, legal basis, categories, recipients, retention, third-country transfers, consequences of non-provision, rights, and APDP complaint rights
Right of access and confirmation of processing, including purposes, categories, recipients, source, retention, safeguards, automated-decision logic, and a copy
Right to portability where data was provided by the subject, processing is automated, and based on consent or contract
Right to object on legitimate grounds
Free and unconditional right to object to direct marketing, including commercial, charitable, or political prospecting
Right to rectification, completion, updating, locking, or deletion of inaccurate, incomplete, equivocal, outdated, irrelevant, or unlawfully processed data
Right to be forgotten through deletion of publicly exposed links, copies, and reproductions, subject to statutory exceptions
Right to withdraw consent at any time without retroactive effect
Right to complain to the APDP and seek judicial remedies against the APDP, controller, or processor
Right to compensation for material and moral damage
Notable features
The Code combines GDPR-style rights with Benin-specific procedures, including interrogation of automated nominative files, a free objection to commercial, charitable, or political prospecting, deletion of publicly exposed links, copies, and reproductions, and APDP oversight. The specific statutory deadlines are not perfectly harmonized, and no harmonizing rule was located.
Enforcement & penalties
Regulator: Autorité de Protection des Données à caractère Personnel (APDP)
Penalties: The APDP may issue a warning, order cessation within up to eight days, impose an injunction, withdraw an authorization, lock data, or order modification or deletion. The first administrative monetary violation may attract up to 50,000,000 CFA francs. A repeat administrative violation within five years of a final prior monetary penalty may attract up to 100,000,000 CFA francs or 5% of the enterprise’s last closed pre-tax turnover, capped at 100,000,000 CFA francs. Criminal provisions include imprisonment of six months to ten years and/or fines of 10,000,000 to 50,000,000 CFA francs; violation of a prohibition or recidivism may attract one to ten years’ imprisonment and/or 10,000,000 to 100,000,000 CFA francs.
Private right of action: The framework provides judicial remedies against the APDP, controller, or processor and compensation for material and moral damage. Article 449 provides an effective judicial remedy against APDP inaction or failure to inform a complainant within 90 days; this is a judicial-recourse trigger, not a guaranteed APDP decision deadline.
Relevance to data brokers
No dedicated data-broker or public-record-specific complaint, deletion, or opt-out route was located. General routes that may be relevant include Article 441 rectification, locking, or deletion; Article 443 deletion of publicly exposed links, copies, and reproductions; Article 448 APDP complaints; source disclosure where data was not collected from the subject; and free objection to direct marketing.
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FAQ
What privacy rights exist under Benin’s Code du numérique?+
The Code provides information, access, rectification, completion, updating, locking, deletion, portability, objection, consent withdrawal, direct-marketing objection, automated-decision safeguards, APDP complaints, judicial remedies, and compensation for material and moral damage, subject to statutory exceptions.
How long does a Benin controller have to answer a privacy request?+
The report located specific periods of no later than 60 days for access, 30 days for an objection response, and 45 days for rectification or deletion communications. Article 420 also states a general 30-day framework with a possible 60-day extension. These provisions are not perfectly harmonized.
Is there a Benin data-broker deletion process?+
No dedicated data-broker or public-record-specific complaint, deletion, or opt-out route was located. General rectification, locking, deletion, publicly exposed-link deletion, APDP complaint, source-information, and direct-marketing objection routes may be relevant where their statutory conditions apply.
Official sources & citations
Other international privacy regimes
Code du numérique, Book V sits in a global ecosystem of data-protection laws. Compare with other jurisdictions that shape cross-border data flows: