The National Library and Documentation Services Board (NLDSB), established in the year 1970, is a statutory body functioning under the provisions of the National Library and Documentation Services Board No. 17 of 1970 (as amended by the National Library and Documentation Services Board Act No 51 of 1998). It falls under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education. The main statutory functions of the NLDSB are the maintenance of the National Library of Sri Lanka and the development of library and information services at the national level. Having taken the concept of ‘Digital Library’ into consideration, the digitization of printed information sources available with ‘the National Library’ was commenced around the year 2000. The collection of new digital information sources was also initiated. With the gradual progress of digitization activities, the National Digital Library of the NLDSB was inaugurated in the year 2016. A specialized unit named ‘Digital Library Unit’ was also administratively established within the NLDSB to carry out the mandate of the ‘National Digital Library.’ A number of digitization activities have been carried out by the Digital Library Unit including the development of digital collection, digitization of national library resources and providing digitalized information to the users. ‘Digitization’, being a fast-moving and essential trend in the library and information field, is expected to better preserve the information sources and provide the users with a wide and efficient access to the information sources. The National Digital Library has been re-named as the ‘National Digital Library & Repository’ from the year 2020. Against this background, the constructive development and efficient management of the National Digital Library and Repository became a pressing need involving farreaching national interests. As an essential pre-requisite for achieving the desired goals, a National Digital Library and Repository Policy has been already formulated and is being implemented. The formulated National Digital Library and Repository Policy covers certain areas which require their own policies to ensure the effective functioning of the National Digital Library and Repository Policy Framework. One such area is ‘Open Access’ to the digital information resources. The access to digital information resources takes two forms, namely (i) restricted access and (ii) open access. The restricted access is managed for the time being as part of the general administration of the NLDSB and the Digital Library Unit leaving room for a policy framework, when necessary, as the activities of the National Digital Library & Repository further progress. However, a policy outlining the fundamentals relating to ‘open access’ has become necessary for the benefit of both the Digital Library Unit and the users of the digital information resources. The ‘Open Access Policy’ is therefore hereby formulated and declared.