Myanmar: News Media and Printing and Publishing Enterprises Law Reforms regulate substantially similar matters – for example, both impose restrictions on the content that may be carried by the media – and seek to achieve similar objectives. In addition, the existence of two separate laws creates legal confusion and results in conflicting frameworks for media regulation, for example to the extent that they prescribe different standards for the media or require coordination between the bodies that oversee the implementation of the two laws. These problems are particularly sensitive in the context of regulating freedom of expression, where overlapping and duplicative legislation can have a chilling effect on the diversity of information and ideas expressed through the media. In this context, having two laws means that journalists and others must take additional steps to ensure they comply with both laws and may self-censor to a greater extent than is strictly necessary because of confusion over the scope and exact meaning and import of each law. Recommendation: ➢ The News Media Law and the Printing and Publishing Enterprises Law should be integrated into one law and otherwise amended to ensure that their provisions are in line with international and constitutional human rights standards. 2. Scope of Applicability An extremely broad variety of means of communication is currently captured by the two laws in question. This is because both laws contain vague definitions of concepts governing their scope such as “publications” and “news media”. While the rights to freedom of expression and to access the news are guaranteed for everyone, rules designed specifically for the media should be limited in scope to the media sector as properly defined, so as to avoid imposing professional media standards on entities or individuals who are not professional journalists. News Media Law The definitions of “news media” and “news agency” in section 2 of the NML, as well as that of “news” in the accompanying Rules,8 are problematical due both to their vagueness and their overbreadth. For example, “news media” includes the activity of analysing information, which is a part of many professions, not simply the media business. Similarly, a “news agency” includes any business or organisation which collects and acquires information and distributes it to the media, which would include any academic, civil society or other group which presents its research findings to the media. A further issue is the definitions of media worker (“news media man”) and “reporter”, which are also very general in nature and, as a result, cover non-professionals who engage in 8 Order No. 45/2015, adopted 17 June 2015 The Centre for Law and Democracy is a non-profit human rights organisation working internationally to provide legal expertise on foundational rights for democracy -2-