Bangladesh sets Tk 10,000 as registration fee for news websites

The government has set Tk 10,000 as a registration fee for news websites and Tk 5,000 as the annual renewal fee.

The Ministry of Information issued an order on Sunday announcing the registration, establishment and management fees for news websites

An additional Tk 2,000 will be imposed as surcharge if the renewal fees are paid within a month after the cut-off time, and Tk 5,000 after that.

The Press Information Department (PID) will be responsible for registering the websites until a commission is formed.

The approved registration form was forwarded to the PID and it was asked to report registration details to the Ministry of Information by the fifth of every month.

The ministry authorised the registration of 34 news websites on Jul 30 and 92 online versions of newspapers on Sep 3.

Registration approvals will depend on clearance reports from government agencies, Information Minister Hasan Mahmud has said.

The registration fee deposit code will be forwarded to the PID, an official of the ministry said.

The authorised websites will have to complete the registration process by filling out a form and depositing money using that code.

In 2015, the government began accepting applications from digital media outlets for registration aiming to curb so-called ‘yellow journalism’. The date for submission was extended several times.

The government made registrations of online versions of broadcasters and newspapers mandatory on Sep 1.