Tint Swe, head of PSRD, told AFP news agency: “From now on, our department will just carry out registering publications for keeping them at the national archives and issuing a license to printers and publishers.”

Journalists in the country are said to be delighted with the decision, following 50 years of tight controls. Previously, censors could stall the publication of stories by months and send journalists to prison if they disapproved of articles.

Spokesperson for the Committee for Freedom of the Press, Zaw Thet Htwe, told independent Burmese publication Irrawaddy: “It’s a real improvement, but the 2004 Electronics Act, as well as the draconian 1962 Printers and Publishers Registration Act, should also be abolished.”