The government has moved to frame the country鈥檚 postal laws to give citizens a legally recognized address and secure access to financial services, as it moves to replace the 127-year-old Post Office Act of 1898 with the Post Services Ordinance 2025.
The new law will create a national digital addressing system and turns Bangladesh Post into a legally mandated provider of universal services, positioning it as a key pillar of communication, financial inclusion and state delivery.
Under the ordinance, universal postal service will become a statutory obligation.
Bangladesh Post must reach every citizen at a uniform and affordable rate, including areas where private operators would not operate.
The legally mandated services will include letters, government documents, court papers, identity-related deliveries, stipends, allowances and postal savings.
One of the most significant reforms is the expanded definition of 鈥榓ddress鈥�.
The draft law recognises physical locations, digital lockers, email identifiers and any functional operating point of a person or institution as valid legal addresses.
Bangladesh Post will also be allowed to assign address methods for floating or displaced citizens. This is designed to support digital identity, KYC verification for financial services and public benefits delivery.
Bangladesh Post will be responsible for creating and maintaining a national address database.
Every holding in the country will be mapped and standardised.
This digital repository is expected to improve the accuracy of e-commerce deliveries, reduce fraud in financial services and help track climate migration by archiving addresses lost to river erosion and other environmental shocks.
The draft introduces specific provisions to ensure access for minors, women under seclusion, people with disabilities, the visually impaired, those with contagious diseases and citizens without permanent housing.
The postal authority will be empowered to design special procedures so that the absence of a stable address cannot exclude anyone from essential communication or state services.
The ordinance also establishes the legal base for expanding rural service delivery and small-scale employment. Postal e-service centres, franchise outlets and post shops can be set up using unused postal facilities.
These will function as local hubs for digital government services while offering new commercial opportunities for rural entrepreneurs.
The financial chapter modernises postal savings and payment services.
All deposits must be held in the government鈥檚 treasury single account and backed by state security. Investments will be routed through treasury instruments, giving depositors protection and aligning postal finance with national fiscal discipline.
