The Post Office Act is being overhauled to strengthen the country’s digital postal transformation, modern address management, climate change-related and migration-related address management, protection of personal data and institutional capacity.
The new law will be titled the Postal Services Ordinance 2025 replacing The Post Office Act 1898, Chief Adviser’s Special Assistant for Posts, Telecommunications and ICT Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb said on Saturday.
In a social media post he elaborated several “groundbreaking reforms” that are included in the amendments.
According to him, a Regulation Wing under Bangladesh Post led by an Additional Director General has been established to license and regulate commercial postal and courier operators to ensure fair competition and non-discrimination while maintaining separate accounts so that any subsidy allocated for universal service is not used to cross-subsidise competitive services.
The maximum administrative penalty for operating postal, courier or parcel businesses without a valid licence has been increased to Tk 1 million from Tk 50,000.
Digital postage or e-stamping has been introduced allowing online payment and digital QR code or barcode with the same legal validity as a postage stamp even if printed or displayed on a mobile device.
The ordinance applies all rights and principles under the Personal Data Protection Ordinance 2025 ensuring operators only use personal data for service delivery, delete unnecessary data and adopt safeguards such as encryption.
A digital central logistics tracking platform will ensure interoperability across commercial operators so customers can easily obtain tracking information.
Postal services run by the designated operator have been declared emergency services essential for national security, public health and economic stability with priority movement and access during emergencies.
The postal network will be recognised as a critical national infra-network supporting nationwide connectivity, communication and economic transactions.
All government agencies must prioritise the designated operator for sending official letters, documents and lightweight parcels both domestically and internationally.
The ordinance introduces the Office of the Chief Controller of Stamps under Bangladesh Post for administrative, financial and logistics management of postal and non-postal stamps including revenue stamps.
Electronic Advance Data including sender-receiver information, value and content description must be digitally transmitted to customs and security agencies ahead of all cross-border mail, courier and parcel items.
KYC verification of national ID or passport will be mandatory for high-value domestic consignments and export shipments to prevent misuse of the services.
The designated operator and all licensed operators must adopt proactive security strategies including security training, X-ray scanning and contingency planning.
Postal Life Insurance has been granted authorised postal service status backed by sovereign guarantee offering protection equivalent to contracts made on behalf of the Hon’ble President.
A Postal Life Insurance Fund will operate on a no-profit, no-loss basis with the Director General of Bangladesh Post as trustee and customers eligible for loans up to 90 percent of their deposited amount following regular actuarial assessments.
Postal Savings Bank will also be considered an authorised postal service with consolidated deposits maintained in the national exchequer through a Treasury Single Account and savings invested in treasury bonds.
Returns for customers will come from a portion of earnings derived from treasury investments and Bangladesh Post reserves authority to digitally modernise operations and management of financial services.
Postal services operated by the designated operator must be prioritised for transportation of all election postal ballots, and for examination papers and results of government educational institutions as per the Representation of the People Amendment Act 2023.
Citizen addresses must be archived digitally at household and family levels with address-based family-tree mapping and geo-fencing and a permanent lifecycle must be set for archiving.
Address management must ensure re-identification and restoration of addresses lost due to climate change or migration including river erosion, disappearing and newly emerged chars and recovered land.
