E-Commerce Act Nepal 2081 (2025) — Key Rules & Compliance

Every e-commerce business must establish a platform and apply to be listed on the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection's e-commerce portal, receiving a Listing Number within about 7 days. Existing businesses had three months to list.

Fines from around NPR 20,000 up to NPR 500,000, and up to three years' imprisonment for serious violations by platform operators.

It is Nepal's first dedicated e-commerce statute — Act No. 13 of 2081 (2025) — enacted by the federal parliament and in force since around mid-April 2025. It regulates online commerce by requiring e-commerce businesses to list on the Department of Commerce portal, imposing platform disclosure and grievance duties, recognising electronic contracts, and setting penalties. It works alongside the Consumer Protection Act 2075 and the Electronic Transactions Act 2063 rather than replacing them.

Yes. The Act is drafted broadly enough to bring social-media marketplace sellers — those selling through Facebook, Instagram, TikTok shops and similar — within its scope, alongside websites and apps. So a seller operating only through social media is not outside the law and may still face the listing and disclosure duties. Given how much Nepali e-commerce runs through social platforms, this is a significant extension that many informal sellers have not yet acted on.

The Act is intended to reach sellers targeting Nepali consumers, including foreign sellers, reflecting the cross-border nature of e-commerce. The practical enforceability against purely foreign operators varies, but the Act asserts application to those doing e-commerce into Nepal. Foreign platforms and sellers with a meaningful Nepali customer base should take advice on their exposure, particularly where they have a local presence, payment arrangements or fulfilment in Nepal that brings them within reach of the Department.

No. Registering a company or firm and obtaining PAN/VAT covers the entity and tax side, but the Electronic Commerce Act adds a separate, mandatory listing of the e-commerce platform on the Department of Commerce portal, plus on-platform disclosure and grievance duties. Being a registered company does not satisfy the listing requirement. An online business therefore needs both the ordinary registration and the e-commerce listing to operate lawfully under the current framework.

An e-commerce platform must display the business name and address, its registration certificate number, PAN or VAT details, any required licence, a grievance-handling contact, and the listing number issued by the Department, and must update changes within about 48 hours. The purpose is consumer transparency — buyers should know who they are dealing with and how to complain. Stores that hide their legal identity or omit these details are non-compliant and exposed to penalties.

The Act requires platforms to operate a grievance-handling mechanism and to respond to complaints within a defined period, commonly cited as 15 days, and consumers also retain their rights under the Consumer Protection Act 2075. So a dissatisfied buyer can first use the platform's grievance contact, then escalate to the consumer-protection authorities or the Department where the platform fails to resolve the issue. The listing and disclosure rules exist precisely to make this complaint route workable.

Failing to list on the Department's e-commerce portal as the Act requires is a compliance breach that can attract the Act's penalties — fines and, for serious or persistent violations, the more severe sanctions. Beyond the legal penalty, an unlisted business cannot demonstrate compliance to consumers or partners, and risks enforcement action as the Department operationalises the regime. Listing within the required window is therefore the safest course for any operating online business.

The Act is administered by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies through the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection, which runs the e-commerce listing portal and oversees compliance, working with the consumer-protection enforcement machinery. The Department issues listing numbers, monitors disclosures, and can act on violations. Because enforcement sits with a specific government department, online businesses have a clear authority to register with and to deal with on compliance questions.

Yes. The Act recognises contracts formed electronically in the e-commerce context, complementing the Electronic Transactions Act 2063, which already gives legal validity to electronic records and signatures. This means an online order and acceptance can form a binding contract, with the associated consumer-protection and disclosure obligations attaching. For businesses, it underlines that online terms and conditions, order confirmations and digital records carry legal weight and should be drafted and retained accordingly.

The Electronic Transactions Act 2063 (2008) is the older, broader law giving legal validity to electronic records and digital signatures and criminalising cyber offences. The Electronic Commerce Act 2081 (2025) is the new, specific law regulating online commerce — platform listing, disclosure, seller and consumer duties. They operate together: the ETA underpins the validity of the electronic transaction, while the E-Commerce Act regulates how the online business must conduct and register itself.

VAT depends on turnover and category as under the general tax rules — an e-commerce business registers for VAT where it crosses the threshold or falls in a VAT-required category, and otherwise operates under PAN with the applicable income-tax treatment. The E-Commerce Act's disclosure rules assume the business has PAN/VAT details to display, so tax registration is part of being a compliant online business. Confirm your VAT position with the Inland Revenue when you register.

The lower house passed the e-commerce bill on 18 February 2025, the upper house passed amendments on 2 March 2025, and the President granted assent on 16 March 2025, making it Act No. 13 of 2081. It then came into force on its 31st day, around mid-April 2025. This ended roughly 25 years in which Nepal's online businesses operated without a dedicated e-commerce statute, and it is why the listing and disclosure obligations are recent and still being operationalised.

Yes, consumer protection is a central aim. By requiring platforms to disclose who they are, display PAN/VAT and licence details, provide a grievance contact, and handle complaints within a set period, the Act gives online buyers transparency and a complaint route they previously lacked. These protections sit alongside the Consumer Protection Act 2075, so an online consumer can rely on both. The shift is from a largely unregulated online marketplace to one with enforceable seller accountability.

Businesses already operating in e-commerce when the Act commenced were given roughly three months from commencement to establish their platform compliance and list on the Department's portal. Given the Act came into force around mid-April 2025, that transition window has now passed, so established online sellers that have not listed are already out of compliance. Any operating online business that missed the window should regularise its listing and disclosures promptly to limit exposure.

The Act targets e-commerce broadly — the online sale and supply of goods and services through electronic platforms — so platforms that facilitate transactions, including delivery and marketplace models, can fall within its scope depending on how they operate. Whether a particular app is caught, and as an intermediary or a seller, depends on its model and the Act's definitions. Operators of such platforms should take specific advice on their classification and the resulting listing and disclosure duties.

Beyond the Electronic Commerce Act 2081, an online business must comply with the Consumer Protection Act 2075, the Electronic Transactions Act 2063, the Companies Act 2063 or the firm laws for its entity, the Privacy Act 2075 for personal data, and the tax laws for PAN and VAT, with sector rules and Nepal Rastra Bank requirements where payment services are involved. E-commerce compliance is therefore multi-statute, and the new Act adds the listing and platform-conduct layer on top of these existing obligations.

If you run or are launching any online sales — a website, an app, or a social-media shop — and have not addressed the Act's listing and disclosure duties. A lawyer confirms whether and how you must list on the Department's portal, makes your on-platform disclosures and grievance process compliant, and aligns your company, tax, data-privacy and consumer-protection obligations. Acting before enforcement rather than after a penalty is the cheaper and safer path.