§ 15:1304 — Manufacture, distribution, or possession of wire, electronic, or oral communication intercepting devices prohibited

A. Except as otherwise specifically provided in this Chapter, it shall be unlawful for any person willfully to manufacture, assemble, possess, or sell any electronic, mechanical, or other device, knowing or having reason to know that the design of such device renders it primarily useful for the purpose of surreptitious interception of wire, electronic, or oral communications.
B. Any person who violates the provisions of this Section shall be fined not more than ten thousand dollars and imprisoned for not less than two years nor more than ten years at hard labor.
C. It shall not be unlawful under this Section for:
(1) A communications common carrier or an officer, agent, or employee of, or a person under contract with, a communications common carrier's business in the normal course of the communications common carrier's business, or
(2) An officer, agent, or employee of, or a person under contract with the United States or a commissioned state police officer of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections specially authorized by the deputy secretary of public safety services in writing to possess or use pursuant to court authorization, in the normal course of the activities of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, to manufacture, assemble, possess, or sell any electronic, mechanical, or other device knowing or having reason to know that the design of such device renders it primarily useful for the purpose of surreptitious interception of wire or oral communications.

Legislative History

Acts 1985, No. 859, §1, eff. July 23, 1985; Acts 2001, No. 403, §2, eff. June 15, 2001; Acts 2012, No. 727, §2.