Kathmandu. The government has started the registration and renewal of online media from the Department of Information and Broadcasting.

The government has approved the Printing and Publication (Second Amendment) Regulations and made arrangements for the registration and renewal of online news portals from the Department of Information and Broadcasting as per the old system.

A meeting of the Council of Ministers on Wednesday approved the regulation and it has been published in the Nepal Gazette today. The Department has started the registration and renewal of online media by publishing a notice today.

Director General of the Department, Udaya Bahadur Rana Magar, shared that the registration and renewal process of online media has been started from today following the publication of the amended regulations related to printing press and administration in the Gazette. According to him, earlier the Act had fixed the local authority through the Chief District Officer and as per the provision, the Director General of the Department has been designated as the local officer. Accordingly, with the second amendment to the printing press and publication, registration and renewal will be done by the department.

With this, it has become easier for the online media which have stopped registration and renewal for a long time. The registration and renewal can be done online and if the certificate has to be obtained, one has to be physically present at the department.

Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Jagadish Kharel, has taken the initiative to facilitate registration and renewal of online media from the Department. The government of Nepal has issued the Second Amendment Regulation Related to Printing and Publication, 2082 BS as per the notice published in the Nepal Gazette on Kartik 13, 2082 BS. The regulation has provisions regarding registration and operation of online media.

Applications for registration and renewal of online media can be made by logging into the Information Management System of the Department. According to Section 7 (b) of the Act, any organization wishing to operate online media has to submit an application to the local authority in the format as referred to in Schedule 8 (a) along with a fee of Rs 5,000 for registering such media. Likewise, any organization wishing to renew the certificate of an online media can apply for the renewal of the certificate along with necessary documents along with a fee of Rs 2,500 before the expiry of the validity period of the certificate.

According to the amendment to the Printing and Publication Act, 1992 published in the Nepal Gazette on July 19, there is a provision to charge fees for the registration of online media by adding clause 7 (b). Minister Kharel also took legal opinion on the issue today itself and expressed commitment to take necessary initiatives to reduce the fees as stipulated in the regulation.

The Department has also requested to get information from the provisions of the Second Amendment Regulations, 2082 on the website of the Department for the registration and renewal of online media and the checklist prepared on the basis of the same provision.

The Printing and Publication (Second Amendment) Regulations-2082 have been issued by amending the Printing and Publication Regulations-2049 BS. In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 39 of the Printing and Publication Act, 1991, the Government of Nepal has framed the following rules: Online media cannot be operated without registration as per these Rules.

To apply for online registration, a copy of the organization registration certificate, a copy of the memorandum of understanding and regulations for the purpose of operating an online newspaper, e-magazine, newspaper, news portal or a copy of the document related to the establishment should be included.

Newspapers, televisions, radios and FM radios registered and operating in accordance with the prevailing laws should register online media only from the domain of their own name. The organization operating online media should have a position of at least three employees including the editor and a single person should not be allowed to be the editor of more than one online media.

The online media which were registered and operated prior to the commencement of this Rule shall not be re-registered under this Rule. The validity of the certificate of online media issued in accordance with the rules shall be one fiscal year.

It shall be the responsibility of the online media operator to protect the content published in the online media. The regulation states that the concerned online media should publish a policy regarding the privacy of users’ data.