KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 21

The Development and Technology Committee of the Parliament has directed the government to implement the clean feed policy within October 23. A meeting held today at the parliament has conveyed such direction to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MoCIT).

In course of implementing the Advertising Regulating Act 2019 from October 24, the committee has directed the ministry to implement the clean feed policy a day before that. President Bidhya Devi Bhandari had rectified the act on October 24 last year which is coming into effect from October 24 this year. Implementing the clean feed policy for all Nepali channels is supposed to be completed before October 24, however, there has been no progress made in this regard yet.

Thus, the committee has also directed the ministry to form an Advertisement Board before October 23 to implement the act and ensure that the advertisements aired in the television channels in the country are sourced locally.

The committee has also directed the ministry to prepare a report on the number of foreign channels in Nepal that will be affected due to the implementation of the act as well as the positive and negative impact of the act.

The ministry has been asked to submit its report within 15 days.

Earlier, the advertising agencies had demanded implementation of the policy right from the beginning of the new fiscal year 2020-21.

The advertising agencies are of the view that implementation of the policy will help create new jobs and expand the domestic advertising market.

Once the policy is implemented, all foreign TV channels will likely be free of advertisements.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on September 22, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.