Bangladesh

Summary

Bangladesh's cyber law framework has undergone rapid change since 2023. The Cyber Security Act 2023 (CSA, Act No. 46 of 2023) was repealed and replaced by the Cyber Security Ordinance 2025 (Ordinance No. 25 of 2025, in force 21 May 2025), which retained criminal unauthorised- access provisions (including s.17 targeting critical-information-infrastructure intrusion) while repealing many speech-related offences and adding AI-specific cybercrime provisions. A separate Personal Data Protection Ordinance 2025 (Ordinance No. 61 of 2025, gazetted 6 November 2025) enacted Bangladesh's first comprehensive data-protection regime, with broad obligations on controllers and processors (including extraterritorial reach for processors of data belonging to Bangladeshi citizens); enforcement mechanisms (complaint, investigation, penalty procedures) are delayed by 18 months from gazette (operative approximately May 2027). No enacted TDM exception; the Copyright Act 2000 fair dealing is a closed enumerated list. No sui generis database right. Public-page crawling without a technical barrier carries low-to-medium criminal risk under the Ordinance's access provisions, though the statutory language remains broadly framed and untested judicially. Data-protection obligations now apply but enforcement is delayed.