Dhaka, 17 July 2022:

On 17 July 2022, a consultation workshop on Data Protection Act 2022 was organized by the ICT Division on the hybrid format. Hon’ble State Minister for the ICT Division Mr. Zunaid Ahmed Palak, MP Chaired the program whereas the Hon’ble Minister for the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Mr. Anisul Huq, MP joined the program as Chief Guest. Foreign Secretary (Senior Secretary) Ambassador Masud Bin Momen joined the meeting as special guest. Representatives from both the Bangladesh Missions abroad and the Missions in Dhaka and dignitaries from different organizations joined the consultation workshop.

In his speech, Hon’ble Minister for Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs stated that this data protection law aims to protect the data, not to control it. He mentioned that work is going on to bring the best balance between protection of rights and protection of data. He said that Data Protection Law should be independent and separated. The chair of the session Hon’ble State Minister for the ICT Division mentioned that the number of internet subscribers is 130 Million in Bangladesh and the government has digitalized more than 2000 services. He also stressed the fact that this law is created for protecting our citizen’s data, not to control the information. He clarified that, while formulating the law, the similar laws of EU (GDPR), Brazil, South Africa, Canada, US (California) were closely observed and followed. The open discussion session of the workshop was moderated by the Foreign Secretary. He highlighted that data protection is an epistemological contribution of Bangladesh in the domain of technology which is both foundational and existential. He also stated that to ensure safety, security and integrity data must be protected and cyberspace governance, content moderation, privacy, sensitivity, availability, and accessibility are the keywords for data protection. He expressed that data protection is a justice, economic and enforcement issue and a civilizational construct. He mentioned that the law that is discussed attempts to complement Bangladesh’s national priorities in development. The government wishes to connect the markets and the factors of production to global supply chains in an orderly and safe environment.      

Participants from both home and abroad attend the workshop and put up their valuable remarks on the draft Data Protection Act. After successful active participation from the attendees, the chair of the program thanked everyone for their constructive observations.