The Advisory Council of Bangladesh, chaired by Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus, approved in principle four draft ordinances during a meeting held Thursday at the Chief Adviser’s Office in Tejgaon, Dhaka. The approved drafts include the Personal Data Protection (Amendment) Ordinance 2026, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (Amendment) Ordinance 2026, Supreme Court Secretariat (Amendment) Ordinance 2026, and Bangladesh Forest Industries Development Corporation Ordinance 2026. The council also gave provisional approval to the Environment Ministry’s ‘Third Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC-3)’ plan.

Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam said the data protection amendment relaxes data localization rules, requiring domestic storage only for critical information infrastructure, and replaces imprisonment with fines for corporate violations. The Shilpakala Academy amendment expands its divisions to nine and ensures representation of marginalized groups on its board. The new forest industry ordinance modernizes the 1959 framework to promote sustainable resource use and product diversification. The NDC-3 plan targets a reduction of 84.97 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2035.

Officials expect the revised data protection rules to encourage foreign investment and cloud-based services while strengthening environmental and cultural governance frameworks.