Cyber Security Statute Strengthened: Parliament Passes Cyber Security Bill-2026
The ‘Cyber Security Bill-2026’ has been passed in the National Parliament, repealing the ‘Cyber Security Ordinance-2025’ and paving the way for a new legal framework. On 10 April, Friday, the bill was presented in the second session of the National Parliament by Post, Telecommunications and Information Technology Minister Fakir Mahbub Anam.
Deputy Speaker Barrister Kaysar Kamal placed the bill before the Members of Parliament, and it was passed unanimously through a voice vote.
The new law aims to ensure the identification, prevention, and suppression of cybercrimes, along with the proper adjudication of related offenses. As a result, the ‘Cyber Security Ordinance-2025’ issued during the interim government has been repealed.
Following the repeal, former Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser, Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb, stated that six ordinances—Cyber Security Ordinance, 2025; Cyber Security (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025; Personal Data Protection Ordinance, 2025; Personal Data Protection (Amendment) Ordinance, 2026; National Data Management Ordinance, 2025; and Telecommunication Amendment Ordinance, 2026—have been adopted by the National Parliament (four as laws). He noted that although certain compromises were made in some laws, including the removal of criminal offenses related to large-scale data fraud under platform pressure and expanded agency access under telecom surveillance provisions, these laws would bring discipline to the country’s ICT, telecom, and data governance sectors.
He further stated that, from now on, personal data is legally recognized as an individual’s asset. Without consent, no individual or company will be allowed to collect, store, process, or retain such data. Processing children’s data for modeling or AI training has been declared a criminal offense. As data owners, citizens will have the right to request access to their processed data.
Referring to widespread data fraud, cybercrime, financial scams, and identity forgery in Bangladesh, he added that although the ordinance had included criminal provisions for large-scale violations of personal data privacy, these were not retained in the final law by the BNP government. He emphasized the need for the judiciary to become more literate on such issues to ensure that violations of personal data privacy are penalized with substantial financial fines.
According to Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb, individuals will now be able to file cases over breaches of personal data privacy, platform-level data breaches, and corporate data fraud. Legal action can also be taken against the government in such cases. Individuals, companies, and the government alike will be able to seek protection under data laws and approach the courts. At the same time, responsibilities related to data collection, storage, marketing, and sharing have been increased. He also noted that checks and balances have been introduced in telecom surveillance provisions and that internet shutdowns have been prohibited.
He added that with the passage of the Personal Data Protection and National Data Management laws, the government must now establish a National Data Authority. This will create the legal mandate for developing digital public infrastructure, including national interoperability and connectivity highways. It will also facilitate the implementation of a “One ID” system and strengthen data governance, interoperability, and electronic ID management at the national DPI (Digital Public Infrastructure) level.
Meanwhile, during the same session, 20 bills were passed as part of the process to convert ordinances issued during the interim government into permanent laws. Of these, 10 bills were passed in the morning session. As there were no clause-wise amendment proposals or discussions, the bills were passed unanimously following proposals by the respective ministers.
It is noted that a total of 133 ordinances were issued during the tenure of the interim government. A special parliamentary committee formed as part of the legislative process reviewed these ordinances. The committee recommended retaining 98 ordinances unchanged and passing 15 with amendments. Of the remaining 20, it recommended repealing 4 and strengthening 16 by reintroducing them as new bills in Parliament. In line with this, 20 bills were passed today.
Several important bills were passed in today’s session. Liberation War Affairs Minister Ahmed Azam Khan presented the ‘July Mass Uprising Martyrs’ Families and July Fighters Welfare and Rehabilitation Bill, 2026,’ which was passed. Additionally, on behalf of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed proposed the ‘Maheshkhali Integrated Development Authority Bill,’ which was also passed.
Other bills included five development authority bills (for Narayanganj, Barishal, Mymensingh, Cumilla, and Rangpur), the Deposit Protection Bill, amendments to the Grameen Bank and Bangladesh Bank laws, the Dhaka Central University Bill, and amendments to the Women and Children Repression Prevention Act. These bills were presented separately by the respective ministers.
DBTech/MUIM/EK/OR
