President Bashar al-Assad issued Law No. 25 of 2024, establishing the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology to replace the ministry updated in Legislative Decree No. 69 of 2013, inheriting its rights and obligations.
The law aims to keep pace with rapid global developments in the telecommunications, postal, and information technology sectors. It enables the Ministry to implement the state’s general policy and directions in these sectors, modernize its tasks, use modern technologies and new disciplines in data science, and build a knowledge society by creating a robust and advanced communications infrastructure.
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The updated Ministry will regulate the telecommunications, postal, and information technology sectors, design operational plans and timelines for the programs and projects included, and form an advisory board to track performance indicators and the state of these markets, issuing appropriate recommendations for their implementation.
In a statement to Al-Watan about the law, Minister of Communications Iyad al-Khatib said: “There is no doubt that we are currently living through the revolution of the internet, data, and information globally, and this will be reflected in Syria. Within the framework of updating the governing legislation to align with new developments, the ministry must take its role in tracing modern technologies globally, transferring them to Syria, and completing the necessary legislative interfaces to invest in them. Therefore, it was necessary to reconsider Decree 69 of 2013, 11 years after its issuance, to ensure the amendment of some tasks and the addition of new ones to the ministry.”
He added: “This law is part of a series of laws issued in the digital transformation legislation adopted by the government in 2021. One of the most important laws issued is Law No. 7 of 2023, which created the National Authority for Information Technology Services, and Law No. 12 of 2024 on the protection of personal data. The Ministry has issued a number of policies and strategies related to information security, established the National Center for Cloud Computing within the National Information Technology Authority, and built the first phase of the Emergency Response Center for Informatics.”
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
