Myanmar: Note on Recent Legal Developments Impacting Freedom of Expression1 November 2020 Centre for Law and Democracy info@law-democracy.org +1 902 431-3688 www.law-democracy.org Overview This Note provides a review of legal developments during 2020 in Myanmar which impact freedom of expression. It summarises these developments and offers a brief commentary on the extent to which they conform to international human rights standards, but it does not provide a comprehensive analysis of the developments. It thus provides a summary of major trends and developments while also offering a potential starting point for more in-depth analyses or advocacy. The first part of this Note discusses recent developments related to COVID-19 which could impact the exercise of freedom of expression. These include: • A proposed new version of the Prevention and Control of Communicable Diseases Law, which would include a provision prohibiting the sharing, receiving or publishing of news, even if accurate, about contagious diseases which could cause panic. • The establishment of two committees responsible for the COVID-19 response, including one with a strong military contingent and a mandate to take action against those who spread misinformation for the purpose of causing panic. • Statements at the Union and region and state levels which indicate an intention to enforce existing laws governing the dissemination of information about the pandemic. • The use of criminal penalties against those who disobey pandemic-related orders, so far primarily for rules related to violating quarantine, curfew or restrictions on public gatherings, which could indirectly impact freedom of expression. 1 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Licence. You are free to copy, distribute and display this work and to make derivative works, provided you give credit to Centre for Law and Democracy, do not use this work for commercial purposes and distribute any works derived from this publication under a licence identical to this one. To view a copy of this licence, visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/.