Advertisement Law in Nepal 2082/83 (2026)

Yes. The Tobacco Products Control Act 2068 bans advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products, with a fine for breach.

The Advertisement Board, a statutory body under the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, regulates advertising and oversees compliance with the Act.

The principal law is the Advertisement (Regulation) Act 2076 (2019), implemented through the Advertisement (Regulation) Rules 2077, which regulate advertising across print, electronic, online, social media and outdoor media. It works alongside the Consumer Protection Act 2075, which penalises misleading advertising, and sector laws such as the Tobacco Products Control Act 2068 that restrict advertising of specific products. Together these set the framework a business must follow.

The Advertisement Board is the statutory regulator created under the Advertisement (Regulation) Act 2076, operating under the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology. It sets and enforces advertising standards, drafts codes of conduct, investigates complaints and violations, coordinates among the government, agencies and media, and distributes government public-service advertisements among media outlets. Advertising agencies must enlist with the Board, and it is the body that handles advertising-compliance matters.

Yes. Under the Advertisement (Regulation) Act 2076, an advertising agency that produces or distributes advertisements must enlist with the Advertisement Board with the prescribed details, and agencies operating when the Act commenced were given a transition period to register. Enlisted agencies must keep records open to the Board's inspection. Operating an unregistered agency falls outside the regulated framework and exposes the business to enforcement action.

The Act prohibits advertisements for goods unlawful to sell in Nepal, arms and ammunition, gambling, and unapproved or prescription medicines, plus content harming national sovereignty, public peace or international relations, misusing the national emblem, contemptuous of court, defamatory, discriminatory, obscene, or promoting superstition. False and misleading product claims are banned, and unsolicited SMS or email advertising without the recipient's consent is not permitted.

Misleading advertising is policed through more than one law. The Consumer Protection Act 2075 prohibits false or misleading advertisements and makes a contravention an offence carrying imprisonment and a substantial fine, and the Competition Promotion and Market Protection Act 2063 also bars misleading advertising. Because the exact penalty depends on the law applied and the facts, a business facing a complaint should take advice, and the safer course is to substantiate every claim before publishing.

Alcohol advertising is heavily restricted rather than governed by a single clean ban. The public-health framework and advertising directives stop liquor advertising through mass media, and the Advertisement Board has directed media outlets to drop alcohol advertisements. A business in the alcohol sector should therefore treat mass-media advertising as off-limits and take advice on any promotional activity, since the restriction is enforced and breaching it carries consequences.

No. The Tobacco Products Control Act 2068 comprehensively bans advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products, reflecting Nepal's public-health commitments, and a breach attracts a fine. The ban covers direct advertising as well as promotion and sponsorship, so brand-building activity around tobacco is also caught. Any business connected with tobacco should treat advertising and sponsorship as prohibited and confirm the current rules before any marketing activity.

The clean-feed rule requires foreign television channels broadcast in Nepal to carry their signal without embedded foreign advertisements, so that advertising airtime — and the revenue it generates — stays with Nepali media. Downlink operators were given time to comply, and a clean-feed breach carries a fine. The rule is part of the Advertisement Act's framework to protect domestic advertising revenue, and it affects cable and satellite operators distributing foreign content.

Yes. Outdoor hoarding boards require a licence from the concerned local-level authority and must be of permitted size without obstructing public roads or land. Operating a hoarding board without a licence attracts a fine. Because hoarding licensing sits with local government, the exact process and conditions can vary by municipality, so an advertiser planning outdoor advertising should confirm the licence requirement and conditions with the local authority before installation.

Yes. The Advertisement (Regulation) Act 2076 was drafted to cover advertising across media, including online and social-media advertising, not just print and broadcast. Digital advertising therefore must meet the same standards — no false or misleading claims, no prohibited categories, and consent for direct SMS or email advertising. As digital advertising evolves, the rules continue to be applied to it, so online campaigns should be cleared for compliance just as traditional ones are.

Comparative advertising is not banned outright, but it must not be false, misleading or unfairly disparaging of a competitor. A comparison that cannot be substantiated, or that crosses into denigration, risks falling foul of both the Advertisement Act and the misleading-advertising provisions of the Consumer Protection Act 2075. So comparative claims are permissible only where they are accurate and verifiable, and a business using them should keep the supporting evidence ready.

Direct advertising by SMS or email to recipients without their consent is not permitted under the advertising framework, reflecting a consent-based approach to direct marketing. So a business building an SMS or email campaign should ensure it has the recipients' consent rather than sending unsolicited messages. Combined with data-protection expectations, this makes consent and opt-out handling an important part of compliant direct marketing in Nepal.

Complaints about advertising can be taken up by the Advertisement Board, which investigates violations of the Advertisement Act and can act on advertisements that breach the standards, and misleading-advertising complaints can also engage the Consumer Protection Act 2075 machinery. The Board can direct corrective action, and penalties may follow under the applicable law. A business that receives a complaint should respond promptly and take advice, as ignoring it can escalate the matter.

Besides the Advertisement (Regulation) Act 2076, advertising is shaped by the Consumer Protection Act 2075 (misleading ads), the Competition Promotion and Market Protection Act 2063 (unfair and misleading practices), the Tobacco Products Control Act 2068 (tobacco ad ban), the public-health framework (alcohol), broadcasting rules, and intellectual-property and defamation law. An advertisement therefore has to satisfy several legal regimes at once, which is why a compliance review covers more than the advertising Act alone.

Foreign companies can advertise in Nepal, but their advertising must comply with the same Advertisement (Regulation) Act 2076 standards, the prohibited-content rules, and category restrictions, and foreign-channel advertising is constrained by the clean-feed rule. Advertising of products that require approval — such as medicines — or that fall into restricted categories is subject to the same controls regardless of the advertiser's nationality. So a foreign brand should clear its Nepal advertising for local compliance.

It can be. The Consumer Protection Act 2075 treats false or misleading advertising as an offence that can carry imprisonment and a substantial fine, so an unsubstantiated health or product claim is potentially a criminal-law exposure, not merely a regulatory slap. This is why substantiation matters: a business making a performance, health or efficacy claim should hold evidence for it, because the consequence of a misleading claim can be far more serious than a marketing setback.

Before a campaign runs, and the moment a complaint arrives. A lawyer reviews creative for prohibited content and unsubstantiated claims, advises on category restrictions such as tobacco, alcohol and medicines, handles advertising-agency enlistment with the Board, and represents a business in a complaint or enforcement matter before the Advertisement Board or under the Consumer Protection Act. A pre-campaign compliance check is far cheaper than withdrawing an advertisement or defending a penalty.