In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,⎯
(d) “information providing unit” means⎯
(i) head office, divisional office, regional office, district office or upazila office of any department, directorate or office attached to or under any ministry, division or office of the Government;
(ii) head office, divisional office, regional office, district office or upazila office of an authority;
(f) “information” includes any memo, book, design, map, contract, data, log book, order, notification, document, sample, letter, report, accounts, project proposal, photograph, audio, video, drawing, painting, film, any instrument done through electronic process, machine readable record, and any other documentary material regardless of its physical form or characteristics, and any copy thereof in relation to the constitution, structure and official activities of any authority:
Provided that it shall not include note-sheets or copies of notesheets;
(g) “right to information” means the right to obtain information from any authority;

(1) In order to ensure right to information under this Act, every authority shall prepare catalogue and index of all information and preserve it in an appropriate manner.
(2) Every authority shall, within a reasonable time-limit, preserve in computer all such information as it thinks fit for preservation in computer, and shall connect them through a country-wide network to facilitate access to information.
(3) The Information Commission shall, by regulations, frame instructions to be followed by every authority for the preservation and management of information and all authority shall follow the instructions.

(1) Every authority shall publish and publicise all information pertaining to any decision taken, proceeding or activity executed or proposed by indexing them in such a manner as may easily be accessible to the citizens.
(2) In publishing and publicising information under sub-section (1), no authority shall conceal any information or limit its easy access.
(3) Every authority shall publish a report every year which shall contain the following information, namely: —
(a) particulars of its organisational structure, activities, responsibility of the officers and employees, or description and process of decision making;
(b) lists of all laws, Acts, Ordinance, rules, regulations, notifications, directives, manuals, etc. of the authority including the classification of all information lying with the authority;
(c) description of the terms and conditions under which a citizen may get services from the authorities in obtaining any license, permit, grant, consent, approval or other benefits and of such conditions that require the authority to make transactions or enter into agreements with him;
(d) particulars of the facilities ensuring right to information of the citizens, and the full name, designation, address, and, in cases where applicable, fax number and e-mail address of the assigned officer.
(4) If the authority frames any policy or takes any important decision, it shall publish all such policies and decisions and shall, if necessary, explain the reasons and causes in support of such policies and decisions.
(5) The report prepared by authority under this section shall be made available free of charge for public information and its copies shall be stocked for sale at nominal price.
(6) All the publications made by the authority shall be made available to the public at reasonable price.
(7) The authority shall publish and publicise the matters of public interest through press note or through any other means.
(8) The Information Commission shall, by regulations, frame instructions to be followed by the authority for publishing, publicising and obtaining information and all the authority shall follow them.

Notwithstanding anything contained in any other provisions of this Act, no authority shall be bound to provide with the following information, namely—
(a) any such information that may, if disclosed, cause a threat to the security, integrity and sovereignty of Bangladesh;
(b) any such information relating to any aspect of foreign policy that may affect the existing relationship with any foreign country or international organisation or any regional alliance or organization;
(c) any secret information received from a foreign government;
(d) any information relating to inherent secrets of commercial or business nature, copyright or intellectual property right that may, if published, affect the intellectual property right of a third party.
(e) any of the following information that may, if disclosed, be gainful or damaging to any particular individual or organization, namely :⎯
(i) any advance information about income tax, customs, VAT and law relating to excise duty, budget or change in the tax rate;
(ii) any advance information about changes relating to exchange rate and interest rate;
(iii) any advance information about the management and supervision of the financial institutions including banks;
(f) any such information that may, if disclosed, obstruct the enforcement of law or incite any offence;
(g) any such information that may, if disclosed, endanger the security of public or impede the due judicial process of a pending case;
(h) any such information that may, if disclosed, offend the privacy of the personal life of an individual;
(i) any such information that may, if disclosed, endanger the life or physical safety of any person;
(j) any such information given in confidence to any law enforcement agency by a person;
(k) any matter pending before any court of law and which has been expressly forbidden to be published by any court of law or tribunal or the disclosure of which may constitute contempt of court;
(l) any such information that may, if disclosed, impede the process of investigation;
(m) any such information that may, if disclosed, affect any investigation process of offence and the arrest and prosecution of offender;
(n) any such information which is, according to law, liable to be published only for a certain period of time;
(o) any such information that is generated through technical or scientific experiment, and is expedient to keep secret for strategic or commercial reasons;
(p) any such information pertaining to a purchase process before it is complete or a decision has been taken about it;
(q) any such information that may be prejudicial to the special rights of the House of the Nation;
(r) any secret information of a person which is protected by law;
(s) any advance, information relating to question papers of an examination or marks given;
(t) any document including summaries to be placed before the Cabinet or, as the case may be, before the Council of Advisers and information relating to discussions and decisions of such meetings :
Provided that after taking any decision by the Cabinet or, as the case may be, by the Council of Advisors, the reasons of taking such decisions and the basis upon which the decisions are taken may be disclosed:
Provided further that the concern authority shall take prior approval from Information Commission for withholding information under this section.

(1) Under this Act a person may apply to the officer-in-charge requesting for information either in writing or through electronic means or through e-mail.
(2) The request made under sub-section (1) shall include the following information, namely :⎯
(i) name, address of the person making request, in applicable cases, his fax number and email address;
(ii) correct and clear description of the information sought for;
(iii) other related information so that the location of the information sought for may be easily found out;
(iv) description of the modes how he wants to have the information, that is making inspection, having copy, taking note or any other approved method.
(3) The request for information under this section shall be made in a form printed by the authority, or as the case may be, in prescribed format :
Provided that if the form is not printed or is not easily available or if the format has not yet been prescribed, request may be made for information by inserting information mentioned in sub-section (2) on a piece of white paper, or in electronic form or through e-mail.
(4) In the case of obtaining information under sub-section (1), the person making the request shall pay reasonable fees as may be prescribed by the officer in-charge for such information.
(5) The Government may, in consultation with the Information Commission, fix the fees for having any information by notification in the official Gazette, and, if necessary, may fix the price of information, or as the case may be, may exempt an individual or a class of individuals or any other class from paying such price.
(6) Every authority shall prepare and publicise a list of information to be supplied free of cost upon an instruction of the Information Commission.

(1) The designated officer shall, on receipt of a request under sub-section (1) of section 8, provide the information to the applicant within 20 (twenty) working days from the date of receiving the request.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), if more than one unit or authority are involved with the information sought for, such information may be provided within 30 (thirty) working days.
(3) Despite anything contained in sub-section (1) and (2), if the officer-incharge, due to any reason, fails to provide the information sought for, he shall inform the applicant the reasons thereof in writing within 10 (ten) working days.
(4) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1) and (2), if a request made under sub-section (1) of section 8 is relating to the life and death, arrest and release from jail of any person, the officer-in-charge shall provide preliminary information thereof within 24 (twenty-four) hours.
(5) Where the officer-in-charge fails to provide information within the timeframe as mentioned in sub-section (1), (2) or (4), it shall be presumed that the request for information has been rejected.
(6) When any information sought for is available with the officer-in-charge, he shall determine a reasonable price of that information and shall request the applicant to pay the price within 5(five) working days.
(7) For determining the price under sub-section (6), the price shall not exceed the actual expense of providing information such as cost of printing electronic format or photocopying or print-out.
(8) Where an officer-in-charge thinks that the request made for information under sub-section (1) of section 8 is appropriate, and such information has been supplied by a third party or a third party’s interest is involved in it and the third party has considered it as secret information, the officer-in-charge shall cause a notice to be served upon the third party within 5(five) working days for written or oral opinion, and if the third party gives any opinion in response to such notice, the officer-in-charge shall take into consideration such opinion and make a decision in respect of providing information to the applicant.
(9) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 7, no request for information may be totally rejected on the ground that it is associated with information that is not mandatory for publication, and the portion of the requested information which in not mandatory for publication and is reasonably separable form the portion shall be provided to the applicant.
(10) Where access to the record or a part thereof is required to be provided to a perceptual handicapped, the officer-in-charge shall provide assistance to him to enable him to access such information and such assistance shall deem to include any assistance which is required for such inspection.

(1) Within 60 (sixty) days after commencement of this Act, all authorities existing prior to such commencement shall appoint a designated officer for each of the units for providing information according to the provisions of this Act.
(2) The Information Commission may, on its own accord or upon a complaint, conduct an inquiry regarding the complaint raised under this Act.
(3) The Information Commission, or as the case may be, the Chief Information Commissioner or Information Commissioners, may exercise such powers as a civil court may exercise under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Act V of 1908) in respect of the following matters, namely :⎯
(a) to issue summons to enforce the attendance of persons and compel them to give oral or written evidence on oath and to produce the documents or other things;
(b) to examine and inspect information;
(c) to receive evidence on affidavit;
(d) to bring in any information from any office;
(e) to issue summons for witnesses or documents; and
(f) any other matter prescribed by rules for carrying out the purposes of this Act.
(4) Notwithstanding anything contained contrary in any other law, while inquiring after a complaint under this Act, the Information Commission or, as the case may be, the Chief Information Commissioner or the Information Commissioners may examine on spot any information relating to the complaint kept in the custody of any authority.
(5) The Functions of the Information Commission shall be as follows namely :⎯
(a) to issue directives for the preservation, management, publication, publicity of and access to information by authority;
(b) to prescribe the procedure for applying for information from the authority and, as the case may be, to fix appropriate price of information;
(c) to formulate guidelines and directives as to the preservation and implementation of the right to information of the citizens;
(d) to consider the provisions recognized under the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh or any other law for the time being in force in order to preserve the right to information and recommend to the Government for their effective implementation by indicating the impediments;
(e) to identify the impediments against the preservation and implementation of right to information of the citizens and recommend to the Government for appropriate solution;
(f) to conduct research on the agreements relating to the right to information and other international instruments and to recommend to the Government for their implementation;
(g) to examine the similarities of the prevailing law relating to the maintenance and implementation of the right to information of the citizens and to make necessary recommendation to the Government or, as the case may be, to the appropriate authority in order to ensure their harmonization with the international instruments;
(h) to advise the Government to ratify or sign any international instrument on right to information;
(i) to conduct research on preservation and implementation of the right to information and to assist the educational and professional institution for conducting such research;
(j) to publicize the issues relating to the preservation and implementation of the right to information among different classes of citizens of the society and to increase their awareness about the right to information by publishing, disseminating or any other means;
(k) to advise and provide assistance to the Government in order to make necessary laws and administrative directives for preservation and implementation of right to information;
(l) to advise and provide assistance to the organizations or institutions working for the preservation and implementation of the right to information and to citizens in general;
(m) to increase public awareness on right to information by conducting research, seminars, symposiums, workshops and similar other measures and disseminate the result obtained from the research;
(n) to give the authority technical and other assistance with a view to ensuring right to information;
(o) to establish a web portal for Bangladesh to ensure right to information;
(p) to oversee the actions taken under any other law relating to the preservation and implementation of the right to information;

(1) If Any person fails to receive information within the time specified in sub-section (1), (2) and (4) of section 9 or is aggrieved by a decision of the officer-in-charge may, within 30 (thirty) days from the expiry of such period or, as the case may be, from the receipt of such a decision, prefer an appeal to the appellate authority.
(2) If the appellate authority is satisfied that the appellant has failed to prefer an appeal within the time-limit as mentioned in sub-section (1) for any reasonable ground, it may accept the appeal even after the expiry of that time.
(3) The appellate authority shall within 15 (fifteen) days of the receipt of the appeal under sub-section (1) or (2)⎯
(a) direct the concerned officer-in-charge to supply the appellant the requested information; and
(b) dismiss the appeal if it is not considered fit for acceptance.
(4) The officer-in-charge on being directed to supply information under sub-section (3) shall, within the time specified in sub-section (1), (2) or, as the case may be, (4) of section 9, provide the appellant with the requested information.

(1) A person may lodge a complaint to the Information Commission for any of the following reasons namely :⎯
(a) if he gets no information under sub-section (1) of section 13;
(b) if he is aggrieved by the decision on his appeal under section 24;
(c) if he gets no information within the time-limit mentioned in section 24 or, as the case may be, gets no decision about providing information.
(2) A complaint may be lodged to the Information Commission at any time in respect of any matter mentioned in clause (a) of sub-section (1), and within 30 (thirty) days from the date of such decision or, as the case may be, the date of exceeding the time-limit in respect of any matter mentioned in clause (b) and (c) of sub-section (1).
(3) If the Information Commission is satisfied that the complainant, for any reasonable cause, fails to lodge a complaint within the time limit as mentioned in sub-section (2), it may accept the appeal even after the expiry of that time.
(4) If the Information Commission is satisfied upon an complaint or otherwise that any authority or, as the case may be, any officer-in-charge has failed to do an act or has done an act that was not necessary to do in accordance with the provisions of this Act, it may take action against such authority or, as the case may be, such officer-in-charge under this section.
(5) On receipt of a complaint under sub-section (1) or if it is required to take an action under sub-section (4), the Chief Information Commissioner himself shall enquire into the complaint or delegate the duty to any other information Commissioner to enquire into the same.
(6) The Chief Information Commission or, as case may be, the Information Commissioner, within 30 (thirty) days from the date of taking or receiving duty under sub-section (5), shall, after completing the enquiry into the complaint, prepare a decision-paper for the Information Commission.
(7) The decision-paper mentioned in sub-section (6) shall be presented in the next meeting of the Information Commission, and it shall, on discussion in the meeting, take decision regarding the matter.
(8) During the enquiry into any complaint under this section, the authority or, as the case may be, the officer-in-charge against whose decision the complaint is lodged, shall be given an opportunity to present arguments in support of his decision.
(9) If a third party is involved in the complaint, the Commission shall also give such third party an opportunity to present his statements.
(10) The Information Commission shall, in general, dispose of any complaint made under sub-section (1) within 45 (forty five) days of receiving such complaint, but, in special cases, if it requires extended time to complete the enquiry and depositions of the witnesses, the complaint may be disposed of within such extended time :
Provided that the time limit of disposing of a complaint shall not, in any way exceed more than 75 (seventy five) days inclusive of extended time.
(11) At the time of taking decision under this section, the Information Commission shall have the following powers namely :⎯
(a) to direct the authority or, as the case may be, the officer-in-charge to take the following steps which are necessary to take under the provisions of this Act, namely :⎯
(i) to provide the requested information in a specific manner;
(ii) to appoint an officer-in-charge;
(iii) to publish any special information or special class of information;
(iv) to being changes in the procedures to be followed by the authority in respect of preservation, management or publication of information;
(v) to impart better training on right to information to the officers of the authority;
(vi) to give compensation for any loss or damage;
(b) to impose fines under this Act;
(c) to keep the decision of the authority in force;
(d) to reject any complaint;
(e) to classify the information newly by the authority;
(f) to interpret any matters relating to the nature, classification, preservation, publication, supply of information in the light of this Act.
(12) Any decision passed under this section by the Information Commission shall be binding upon all concerned.
(13) The Information Commission shall inform its decision to all concerned in writing.
(14) The Information Commission shall take other steps in disposing of a complaint in such manner as may be prescribed by regulations.

The parties to a complaint may present their statements before the Commission either personally or through a lawyer.