MYANMAR
Since January 2016
Since December 2017, entry into force in August 2018
Since December 2017, entry into force in August 2018
Pillar Online sales and transactions |
Indicator Restrictions on online payments
Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 20/2016 on Financial Institutions Law
Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 29/2017 on Myanmar Companies Act
Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 29/2017 on Myanmar Companies Act
According to Art. 26 of the Financial Institutions Law, only local banks are allowed to take part in banking and financial services, including online banking and financial services.
Coverage Financial sector
Sources
- https://web.archive.org/web/20220307234626/https://www.dica.gov.mm/sites/dica.gov.mm/files/document-files/final_mcl_english_version_6_dec_president_signed_version_cl.pdf
- https://web.archive.org/web/20231130071427/https://www.aseantoday.com/2017/12/myanmar-government-relaxes-foreign-investment-restrictions/
- https://web.archive.org/web/20220121202004/https://cbm.gov.mm/sites/default/files/regulate_launder/financial_institutions_law_updated_by_cbm_20160303website-1_0.pdf
- Show more...
MYANMAR
Reported in 2021, last reported in 2024
Pillar Content access |
Indicator Presence of Internet shutdowns
Presence of Internet shutdowns
The indicator "6.2.4 - Government Internet shut down in practice" of the V-Dem Dataset, which measures whether the government has the technical capacity to actively make internet service cease, thus interrupting domestic access to the internet or whether the government has decided to do so, has a score of 1 in Myanmar for the year 2023. This corresponds to "The government shut down domestic access to the Internet numerous times this year."
It is reported that since the military coup in February 2021, the military has frequently restricted connectivity by ordering internet shutdowns, slowdowns, and blocks while threatening service providers to ensure their compliance. The internet shutdown came in various forms: i) the nationwide cut-off of mobile data and fixed-line internet access; ii) nightly shutdowns affecting fixed-line (fibre-optic and cable) connectivity. Although the internet was on during the day in this period, users reported frequent short-term outages and slow speeds nationwide; iii) shut down public Wi-Fi connections; iv) shut down wireless broadband internet services indefinitely. Under orders from the military-controlled Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Transport and Communications has significant powers to cut off the internet without oversight or safeguards, as it controls much of the telecommunications infrastructure via the state-owned company Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications.
It is reported that since the military coup in February 2021, the military has frequently restricted connectivity by ordering internet shutdowns, slowdowns, and blocks while threatening service providers to ensure their compliance. The internet shutdown came in various forms: i) the nationwide cut-off of mobile data and fixed-line internet access; ii) nightly shutdowns affecting fixed-line (fibre-optic and cable) connectivity. Although the internet was on during the day in this period, users reported frequent short-term outages and slow speeds nationwide; iii) shut down public Wi-Fi connections; iv) shut down wireless broadband internet services indefinitely. Under orders from the military-controlled Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Transport and Communications has significant powers to cut off the internet without oversight or safeguards, as it controls much of the telecommunications infrastructure via the state-owned company Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications.
Coverage Horizontal
Sources
- https://www.v-dem.net/vdemds.html
- https://web.archive.org/web/20240204024224/https://freedomhouse.org/country/myanmar/freedom-net/2023
- https://web.archive.org/web/20230401180531/https://freedomhouse.org/country/myanmar/freedom-net/2021
- https://web.archive.org/web/20220224210417/https://www.telenor.com/media/press-release/myanmar-authorities-orders-nationwide-shutdown-of-the-data-network/
- https://web.archive.org/web/20231208124425/https://netblocks.org/reports/internet-disrupted-in-myanmar-amid-apparent-military-uprising-JBZrmlB6
- https://www.state.gov/reports/2023-investment-climate-statements/burma/
- Show more...
MYANMAR
Since March 2014
Pillar Content access |
Indicator Licensing schemes for digital services and applications
Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 13/2014 on Printing and Publishing Law
The Myanmar Printing and Publishing Law created the licensing regime for publishing houses, news agencies, and websites, and these outlets must register prior to producing content, including for publishing online.
Coverage Publishing houses, news agencies, and websites
Sources
- https://web.archive.org/web/20231210142135/http://myanmar-law-library.org/law-library/laws-and-regulations/laws/myanmar-laws-1988-until-now/union-solidarity-and-development-party-laws-2012-2016/myanma...
- https://web.archive.org/web/20240201082350/https://freedomhouse.org/country/myanmar/freedom-net/2023
- https://web.archive.org/web/20230215101557/https://freedomhouse.org/country/myanmar/freedom-net/2021#footnote3_3zrmsim
- Show more...
MYANMAR
Since October 2013, last amended in August 2017
Pillar Quantitative trade restrictions for ICT goods and online services |
Indicator Other import restrictions, including non-transparent/discriminatory import procedures
The Telecommunications Law (The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 31, 2013) (ဆက္သြယ္ေရးဥပေဒ (၂၀၁၃ ခုနွစ္၊ ၿပည္ေထာင္စုဥပေဒလႊတ္ေတာ္ဥပေဒအမွတ္ ၃၁။))
According to Arts. 26-70 of the Telecommunication Law mandates that importers of telecommunications equipment get an import license from the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology.
Coverage Telecom equipment
Sources
- https://web.archive.org/web/20220302141533/https://myanmartradeportal.gov.mm/uploads/ecommerce/2019/11/The%20Telecommunications%20Law%202013%20(Eng).pdf
- https://web.archive.org/web/20221011102855/https://freeexpressionmyanmar.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Telecommunications-Law-Amendment-EN.pdf
- https://web.archive.org/web/20231204190209/https://www.myanmartradeportal.gov.mm/en/guide-to-import
- Show more...
MYANMAR
Reported in 2023
Pillar Quantitative trade restrictions for ICT goods and online services |
Indicator Other import restrictions, including non-transparent/discriminatory import procedures
Lack of transparency in import licensing procedures
It is reported that imports require regime approval through an import license, which is often difficult to obtain. The requirements for this license are subject to frequent changes, sometimes occurring on a monthly or even weekly basis. This creates significant risks of spoilage for companies importing products with limited shelf lives or those requiring uninterrupted cold-chain storage. These onerous import licensing requirements have reportedly increased costs for businesses and restricted their ability to transport inputs into Myanmar and manufacture products within the country.
Coverage Horizontal
MYANMAR
Since October 2013, last amended in August 2017
Pillar Quantitative trade restrictions for ICT goods and online services |
Indicator Export restrictions on ICT goods or online services
The Telecommunications Law (The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 31, 2013) (ဆက္သြယ္ေရးဥပေဒ (၂၀၁၃ ခုနွစ္၊ ၿပည္ေထာင္စုဥပေဒလႊတ္ေတာ္ဥပေဒအမွတ္ ၃၁။))
According to Art. 26 of the Telecommunications Law, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology shall prescribe the standards of network equipment and telecommunication equipment that are exported. It is reported that a recommendation issued by the Post and Telecommunications Department is often required for the export of telecommunications equipment, depending on the nature of the equipment.
Coverage Telecom equipment
Sources
- https://web.archive.org/web/20220302141533/https://myanmartradeportal.gov.mm/uploads/ecommerce/2019/11/The%20Telecommunications%20Law%202013%20(Eng).pdf
- https://web.archive.org/web/20240623144510/http://media.vdb-loi.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Some-Regulatory-Points-of-Attention-for-Telecom-MM.pdf
- https://web.archive.org/web/20231209050633/https://www.myanmartradeportal.gov.mm/en/guide-to-export
- Show more...
MYANMAR
Reported in 2023
Pillar Quantitative trade restrictions for ICT goods and online services |
Indicator Export restrictions on ICT goods or online services
Lack of transparency in export licensing procedures
It is reported that certain exports require regime approval through an export license issued by the Department of Trade under the Ministry of Commerce based on recommendations from relevant ministries, agencies, and business associations.
Coverage Horizontal
MYANMAR
Since 2014
Pillar Technical standards applied to ICT goods and online services |
Indicator Self-certification for product safety
Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 28/2014 on Law on standardisation (မြန်မာနိုင်ငံ စံချိန်စံညွှန်း ဥပဒေ ၂၈/၂၀၁၄)
The Law on Standardisation Art. 9 allows foreign departments or organisations to issue a certificate of standard certification and quality recommendation by applying to the department assigned to perform in the matter of standardisation by the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Coverage Horizontal
MYANMAR
Since April 2004, last amended in February 2021
Pillar Domestic data policies |
Indicator Minimum period for data retention
Electronic Transactions Law (The State Peace and Development Council Law No. 5/2004) (အီလက်ထရောနစ် ဆက်သွယ်ဆောင်ရွက်ရေးဥပဒေ)
Art. 27 of the Electronic Transactions Law requires personal data administrators to retain personal data for a specified period before destruction. However, the regulation does not define the exact duration for which the data must be retained.
Coverage Horizontal
Sources
- https://web.archive.org/web/20240117170034/https://freeexpressionmyanmar.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Electronic-Transaction-Law-Amendment-2021-EN-MM.docx.pdf
- https://web.archive.org/web/20230220024259/https://myanmartradeportal.gov.mm/uploads/legals/2018/12/Electronic%20Transactions%20Law%202004(English).pdf
MYANMAR
Since October 2013, last amended in August 2017
Pillar Domestic data policies |
Indicator Requirement to allow the government to access personal data collected
The Telecommunications Law (The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 31, 2013) (ဆက္သြယ္ေရးဥပေဒ (၂၀၁၃ ခုနွစ္၊ ၿပည္ေထာင္စုဥပေဒလႊတ္ေတာ္ဥပေဒအမွတ္ ၃၁။))
Arts. 75 and 77 of the Telecommunication Law allow the government to intercept, suspend, or obtain any information that threatens national security and the rule of law in the country. The broad provision fails to specify which government agents are authorised to do this and what sort of information specifically constitutes the general terms such as national security.
Coverage Telecommunications Sector
Sources
- https://web.archive.org/web/20210205102231/https://myanmartradeportal.gov.mm/uploads/ecommerce/2019/11/The%20Telecommunications%20Law%202013%20(Eng).pdf
- https://web.archive.org/web/20231215065909/https://ooni.org/post/myanmar-report/
- https://web.archive.org/web/20210923112109/https://freeexpressionmyanmar.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Telecommunications-Law-Amendment-EN.pdf
- Show more...
MYANMAR
Since April 2004, last amended in February 2021
Pillar Domestic data policies |
Indicator Requirement to allow the government to access personal data collected
Electronic Transactions Law (The State Peace and Development Council Law No. 5/2004) (အီလက်ထရောနစ် ဆက်သွယ်ဆောင်ရွက်ရေးဥပဒေ)
Art. 4 of the Electronic Transactions Law allows the Government to obtain personal data for purposes related to the stability, tranquillity, and national security of the State. The regulation fails to specify what information constitutes the general terms, such as national security.
Coverage Horizontal
Sources
MYANMAR
Since March 2017, suspended since February 2021
Pillar Domestic data policies |
Indicator Requirement to allow the government to access personal data collected
Law Protecting the Privacy and Security of Citizens (Union Parliament Law 5/2017)
Section 8 of the Law Protecting the Privacy and Security of Citizens, suspended in light of the state of emergency in Myanmar, enables public authorities or law enforcement to access personal data held by private organisations. It prohibits the interception of personal communications without a warrant, but it contains a vague exception allowing surveillance if permission is granted by the president or a government body.
Coverage Horizontal
Sources
- https://web.archive.org/web/20220928033843/https://www.myanmar-responsiblebusiness.org/pdf/Law-Protecting-Privacy-and-Security-of-Citizens_en_unofficial.pdf
- https://web.archive.org/web/20231005084842/https://freedomhouse.org/country/myanmar/freedom-net/2022
- https://www.dataguidance.com/notes/myanmar-third-country-assessment
- Show more...
MYANMAR
N/A
Pillar Intermediary liability |
Indicator Safe harbour for intermediaries for copyright infringement
Lack of intermediary liability framework in place for copyright infringements
A basic legal framework on intermediary liability for copyright infringement is absent in Myanmar's law and jurisprudence. It is reported that the Telecommunication Law does not explicitly hold intermediaries liable for the content, but some provisions are vague and could feasibly be interpreted to justify content removals.
Coverage Internet intermediaries
Sources
- https://web.archive.org/web/20240117170034/https://freeexpressionmyanmar.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Electronic-Transaction-Law-Amendment-2021-EN-MM.docx.pdf
- https://web.archive.org/web/20220302141533/https://myanmartradeportal.gov.mm/uploads/ecommerce/2019/11/The%20Telecommunications%20Law%202013%20(Eng).pdf
- https://web.archive.org/web/20230220024259/https://myanmartradeportal.gov.mm/uploads/legals/2018/12/Electronic%20Transactions%20Law%202004(English).pdf
- https://web.archive.org/web/20221011102855/https://freeexpressionmyanmar.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Telecommunications-Law-Amendment-EN.pdf
- Show more...
MYANMAR
N/A
Pillar Intermediary liability |
Indicator Safe harbour for intermediaries for any activity other than copyright infringement
Lack of intermediary liability framework in place for copyright infringements
A basic legal framework on intermediary liability beyond copyright infringement is absent in Myanmar's law and jurisprudence. It is reported that the Telecommunication Law does not explicitly hold intermediaries liable for the content, but some provisions are vague and could feasibly be interpreted to justify content removals.
Coverage Internet intermediaries
Sources
- https://web.archive.org/web/20240117170034/https://freeexpressionmyanmar.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Electronic-Transaction-Law-Amendment-2021-EN-MM.docx.pdf
- https://web.archive.org/web/20220302141533/https://myanmartradeportal.gov.mm/uploads/ecommerce/2019/11/The%20Telecommunications%20Law%202013%20(Eng).pdf
- https://web.archive.org/web/20230220024259/https://myanmartradeportal.gov.mm/uploads/legals/2018/12/Electronic%20Transactions%20Law%202004(English).pdf
- https://web.archive.org/web/20221011102855/https://freeexpressionmyanmar.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Telecommunications-Law-Amendment-EN.pdf
- Show more...
MYANMAR
Reported in 2021, last reported in 2023
Pillar Intermediary liability |
Indicator User identity requirement
Mandatory SIM card registration
It is reported that Myanmar imposes an identity requirement for SIM registration. Anyone wanting to purchase a SIM card has to provide their national ID card, or a passport in case of foreigners, to activate a new prepaid SIM card.
Coverage Telecommunications sector
Sources
- https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn-privacy/sim-card-registration-laws/#Type_of_ID_required_by_country
- https://web.archive.org/web/20230123124352/https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Digital-Identity-Access-to-Mobile-Services-and-Proof-of-Identity-2021_SPREADs.pdf
- https://web.archive.org/web/20230128064238/https://www.gnlm.com.mm/sim-card-registration-mandatory-by-31-jan-2023/
- Show more...
