Advertising Regulations 2077 amended, Advertisement Board becomes more powerful

Kathmandu, Aug. 21

The government has amended the Advertising Regulation 2077 after five months rigorous discussion, which was led by the Minister for Communication and Information Technology, Rekha Sharma, and facilitated by the Advertising Board Nepal.

The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MoCIT) said that it received multiple complaints from the communication and media sectors about the lack of transparency. The complaints were mainly about the opaque practices and leakage in it, and only a small portion of the advertising budget reached the media.

The amendment of the regulations is said to end the current situation of media losing their share of advertising revenue which they would earn by publishing government advertisements and information.  If the media gets the actual rate of advertisement, it will strengthen their capacity and business, and the working journalists and other employees will get their salaries in a timely manner, said the MoCIT.

"The advertising market will be transparent when the advertising government agency broadcasts information or publishes an advertisement in the media of its choice through the Advertisement Board and pays the amount according to the bill of the media - including the service fee if it comes through an advertising agency," said the Ministry.

Likewise, ranking of the media will help the advertiser to know the effectiveness and popularity of the media and the confidence in the advertiser will increase. There will be competition in expanding the publication and broadcasting capacity of the media as advertisements or information publications will be broadcast based on the classification of the media and the rates set by them.

"An environment of trust will be created and the advertising market will expand by ending the unnatural manipulation in the overall advertising market," according to the Ministry.

The amendment to the regulations has created a provision whereby advertisements or notices of federal government offices should be published and broadcast through the Advertisement Board. Provisions for advertisement or publication of information at the state and local levels shall be in accordance with the laws made by the respective levels.

Thus, before broadcasting the advertisement or information publication, the advertiser has to select the media and enter the information into the IT system of the Board.

If it is necessary to take the services of an advertising agency, the government agency can take the services of it under the prevailing law on procurement, but the advertisement or information received in this way must also be entered into the Boards' information system.

After receiving the information about the publication of advertisement of information in particular media, the Board should make arrangements for publication and broadcast it as soon as possible in the media selected by the respective agency.

The regulations has clearly explained about the procedure for the publication of public welfare advertisements and will be distributed proportionately as before.

Internet-based media has also been added as a media, and rights have been given to the Advertising Board to regulate advertising on social media.

Similarly, the advertisement board should list and rank media for the use of advertisement distribution. While determining the level, the classification of the media according to the prevailing law and the reach to the audience will be considered as the main basis.

The listed media must provide their advertisement rates to the board annually. If the rate obtained in that way seems unnatural, the board can discuss and decide the rate which would be made public.

Likewise, if the publication is broadcast or published through an advertising agency, the service fee of the agency should be disclosed along with a copy of the bill issued by the media.

 Published in The Rising Nepal daily on 22 August 2023.