KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 10

Based on the Advertisement (Regulation) Act 2019, the government has formed the Advertisement Board, which started operating from Wednesday. With an aim to regulate, monitor and operate the entire advertisement market of the country, the government had decided to form the Advertisement Board last year.

Minister for Communications and Information Technology Parvat Gurung inaugurated the board’s office on Wednesday.

The government appointed five board members — Hendra Bahadur Serchan, Subha Sankar Kandel, Balram Thapa, Chandra Neupane and Bandana Danuwar — on December 1. Similarly, Joint Secretary Dilliram Sharma has been appointed as chairman of the board for the moment till a permanent chairman is appointed.

As per the act, the board chairman has to be appointed though open competition. Until the chairman is appointed, the act has mentioned that the joint secretary of the communication ministry can handle the chairman’s responsibility.

The board now has to prepare a national policy to regulate the advertisement industry and submit it to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.

From regulating hoarding boards in public places to managing advertisements on all kinds of media, the board will have the authority from now onwards.

The board will also prepare a criteria for advertisement production and distribution. Meanwhile, from now onwards the advertisement agencies must be registered at the Advertisement Board. As per the act, the agencies have to have records of all their activities and must submit them to the board for inspection.

While inaugurating the board’s office, Communication Minister Gurung expressed his belief that the board will now help end the irregularities in the advertising sector. The major objective of the board is to integrate and manage advertisements as well as to bring together all media persons and media houses from rural areas with advertisement, he added.

“I believe the framework and policies formulated by the board will help integrate all the stakeholders, leaving no one behind from rural to urban areas,” he said.

The government implemented the clean feed policy under the same act.