MALDIVES Law and Practice Contributed by: Hassan Maaz Shareef, Aminath Amathulla, Aishath Shifala, Mohamed Azmee, Nazahath Ahmed, Maaisha Mohamed Musthafa, Aifa Shareef and Noorul Hudha Ahmed, Premier Chambers LLP
8.2 Geographical Scope See 8.1 Applicable Regulations . 8.3 Role and Authority of the Data Protection Agency See 8.1 Applicable Regulations . No legal entity cur - rently has responsibility for data protection regulation.
If any action prohibited under the Copyrights Act has been considered a criminal offence under the Copy - rights Act or the Maldives Penal Code (Law 9/2014), in addition to civil sanctions permitted under the Copyrights Act, the Copyrights Act does not prevent criminal proceedings from being brought against the infringing party under the Maldives Penal Code (Law 9/2014). Criminal sanctions under the Copyrights Act A party taking any action that negatively affects any right protected under the Copyrights Act or takes action knowing that it would result in loss to the copyright owner is committing an offence, which is punishable by the imposition of a penalty between MVR50,000 and MVR 300,000, depending on the gravity of the action. When imposing the penalty, the court must take into account the loss incurred or that may be suffered by the owner of the protected right. If a party convicted of an offence repeats the offence, the court has the right to double the penalty for each instance of repetition. 7.5 Others As explained in 7.4 Copyright , software and databas- es are already protected under the Copyrights Act. Except for the Trademark Act, there are currently no laws in the Maldives that cover other forms of IP.
9. Looking Forward 9.1 Upcoming Legal Reforms
The government of the Maldives has proposed a bill to replace the existing Civil Aviation Act (Law 2/2001). The bill is currently being reviewed at the committee stage and, if approved, it will introduce a comprehen - sive and modern legal framework to ensure effective regulation and oversight of all aspects of civil aviation in the Maldives. As part of the government of the Maldives 2.0 initia - tive to transform the Maldives into a digital Maldives, a Personal Data Protection Bill and a Cyber Security Bill have been submitted to the Parliament. The Maldives Intellectual Property Office Act (Law 12/2025) (the “MIPO Act”) came into force on 1 Janu - ary 2026, pursuant to which registration of intellectual property rights is to be transferred to the Maldives Intellectual Property Office. Regulations with new procedures are expected to be issued under the new MIPO Act and the Trademark Act.
8. Data Protection 8.1 Applicable Regulations
Section 24 of the Constitution of the Maldives states that everyone has the right to have their personal and family life, their home and their private communica - tions respected. It also states that everyone must respect these rights. The Maldives has not enacted general legislation on privacy and personal data pro - tection to date. However, please see 9.1 Upcoming Legal Reforms .
642 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook