Extending Intellectual Property (IP) protection to plant varieties – especially in the context of developing and agriculture-based economy like Bangladesh – is fraught with debates.

According to the Child Marriage Restrain Act of 2017, the contracting, allowing, solemnisation and registration of the child marriage a punishable offence. The Act has repealed the previous Act of 1929. The present Act does not invalidate the child marriage, rather impose penalty for such marriage. Section 7 of the Act imposes punishment on the persons for contracting child marriage, while section 8 punishes the parents for allowing child marriage. In addition, section 9 provides penalty for the persons who solemnise or conduct the child marriage. Again, section 11 of the Act makes the registration of the child marriage a punishable offence. The section goes on to say that,

The fundamental mandate of the Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) is to address the issues of marginality and exclusion in the country.

The government of Bangladesh passed the Competition Act in 2012. The primary purpose of enacting this law is to promote, ensure, and sustain a congenial atmosphere for the competition in trade and prevent, control, and eradicate collusion, monopoly, oligopoly, combination or abuse of powerful positions or activities adverse to the competition.

The legal framework for dispute resolution through alternative methods has reached a level of maturity in Bangladesh.

Department of Law at Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP) and BUP Law and Moot Court Club (BUPLMCC) jointly organised a

Earlier this year, research report titled “Impact of easy accessibility of pornography on the internet and its relevance with violence against women and girls in Bangladesh” was published by Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF).

More often than not, the statutes remain silent or they do not have enough words to meet the requirements of establishing justice.

Surya Deva is a Professor at the Macquarie Law School and a founding Editor-in-Chief of Business and Human Rights Journal.

Alternative Dispute Resolution methods, particularly arbitration has become increasingly popular in Bangladesh over the last two decades, so much so that a separate law on arbitration was enacted to accommodate it.

The draft law appears to have been only prepared to fulfill the state’s prior commitments to enact an anti-discrimination law, but there is clear lack of thought behind making the law effective.

On 5 April 2022, Law Minister Anisul Huq has placed the ‘Anti-Discrimination Bill 2022' in the parliament. The Bill is now with the parliamentary committee of the respective ministry for further examination.

Consumers want goods or services from businesses at competitive prices. Competitive business enterprises come together to form trade associations in the hope of furthering their common interests.

Until June 2019, various international instruments, norms, and practices were developed by both the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the United Nations to deal with violence and harassment at workplace.

In many instances, an Act of Parliament includes a provision allowing the government or the relevant authority to make rules for carrying out the provisions of the concerned Act. Under an Act of Parliament, the rules are framed as directives and/or instructions for the users of the legislation in question. If rules are framed as such, more clarity is brought about and confusion about many provisions of the relevant statute gets dispelled. It also helps to carry out the purpose of the legislation in line with the intention of the legislature. 

After the demise of her only daughter in the Rana Plaza tragedy, 55-year-old Rahima Begum (not her real name) has lost her psychological state and is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Bangladesh holds a strong legal framework on trademark protection under the Trademark Act, 2009. The Act has clear provisions about the use of trademarks, the rights and the consequence of violation of rights, etc. The significances of trademark laws are mostly unknown to the common people. The Trademark Act contains definitions of all the aspects related to trademark such as ‘mark’, ‘registration’ ‘distinctive’ etc., so that no confusion can arise on interpreting the trademark law.

A draft income tax law has been pending enactment for a long time and it has many provisions which need to be evaluated and revised. The major drawback of the existing law is the lack of transparency and excessive prerogative power given to the officials. The draft law has proposed to increase the power of the NBR to deduct, reduce and exempt tax of the assessee. However, the existing law makes the responsibility of the NBR negligible as more than 90% of the tax collected by the government comes from businesses and individuals in the form of deduction at sources.

Since 2020, the Government of Bangladesh has been relocating the Rohingyas to Bhashan Char. The UN and other agencies initially criticised the relocation process.

For dispute resolution through alternative methods, prior to making a claim in courts, Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 (herein after ‘the Act’) has provided for two mechanisms, one is available under section 33 of the Act (a complaint in writing to the employer) and the other is accessible only when it is an industrial dispute and raised by a collective bargaining agent or employer within the meaning of section 2(62) read with section 209 of the Act.