Government to regulate online business

 The government is going to regulate the online business as the complaints against them has been increasing lately.

The online traders could be fined up to Rs 200,000, if they operate online business without taking license and breach the laws of e-commerce platforms, according to a draft ‘Electronic Business Act 2020’, prepared by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies. The draft ‘Electronic Business Act 2020,’ also envisions actions against unscrupulous traders for cheating consumers. 

After the government imposed lockdown on March 24 – to contain the spread the coronavirus – many online business platforms came to existence to serve the people. With the increasing scope of e-commerce in the domestic market, the government also felt the need to bring laws to protect the consumers as there are some incidents, where consumers complained to the Department of Commerce, Supplies and Consumer Protection of being cheated by the sellers. “Most of the complaints are related to misleading advertisements, selling of substandard products and problems in returning the sold items,” the department confirmed, adding that in a number of cases, the buyers even had to wait for over a month to get their money back, if in case the goods were returned to the sellers. “The proposed act has sought to make sellers refund money to the clients as soon as possible, if the sold goods are defective or not the same as ones ordered by the buyers.”

“The online business operators should create electronic platform including a website, where they have to clearly mention details including contact number, officials to take complaints of consumers, price of goods, transport cost, service charge and any additional taxes, if applicable,” the draft reads, adding that the operators will be liable to the grievances of the buyers.

According to the draft law, all players in online business – from producers to sellers and service providers – will also have to take separate licenses.

Tax evaders to face up to five years of jail

If any government official and private sector individual is found to be colluding to evade taxes, then they are liable to face jail terms, according to a new law endorsed by the Federal Parliament today.
According to the Revenue Leakage (Investigation and Control) Act – endorsed by the Federal Parliament – if civil servants and businesspeople are found to be collaborating to evade taxes, then the civil servant will be suspended till the case is settled and could also face a minimum jail term of six months to a maximum of five years, depending on the volume of the revenue leakage. “If any government official is booked by the Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI) for investigation of revenue leakage, the official will be automatically suspended until the issue is resolved,” it reads, adding that the defrauder will also have to pay a fine of 100 per cent to 200 per cent of the misappropriated amount. “If the revenue leakage is below Rs 5 million, the guilty will be imprisoned for six months, whereas for revenue leakage of above Rs 5 million to Rs 10 million, the jail term has been fixed at six months to one year.”
Likewise, the offender will face a jail term of one to three years for revenue leakage from Rs 10 million to Rs 30 million. “If the guilty is found to be involved in revenue leakage of over Rs 30 million, then they will be imprisoned for three years to five years.”
But the act has given the respite for revenue leakage due to genuine mistake. “If the revenue leakage occurred due to a genuine mistake, and the amount is up to Rs 5 million, the guilty could receive half the jail term and will have to pay only half the fine,” the new act reads, adding that the guilty will have to face a jail term and pay the maximum fine, for amounts beyond Rs 5 million.
However, the earlier act has that any offender involved in revenue leakage had to face a jail term of only up to three years and pay a fine that was 200 per cent of the misappropriated amount.
According to chairman of Finance Committee under the Federal Parliament Krishna Prasad Dahal, the law has been amended as the previous laws to control revenue leakages were not effective enough.

Leakage control boosts NEA profit

The state power utility has doubled the profit in a year due to its efficiency in controlling leakage, though it still has cumulative loss.
Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has earned a net profit of Rs 7.2 billion in the fiscal year 2018-19, whereas it had recorded Rs 2.9 billion profit in the previous fiscal year 2017-18. Likewise, it had recorded a loss of Rs 8.8 billion in the fiscal year 2015-16.
The NEA was able to generate profit due to the end to load-shedding, reduction in the average price of imported and domestic electricity, control of administration and technical expenses, and implementation of financial reform measures, informed managing director of NEA Kulman Ghising, after whose appointment the NEA has been making continuous profits.
The cumulative loss of the power utility has come down by Rs 10 billion to Rs 15 billion – as of today – as it had incurred a loss of Rs 8.8 billion in the fiscal year 2015-16 alone making a cumulative loss of Rs 34.61 billion, Rs 28.17 billion in 2016-17, Rs 25.59 billion 2017-18, and Rs 8.89 billion in the fiscal year 2015-16, he informed at a press meet today. The state-owned company, which had always been in the red, started making profits after the appointment of Ghising.
Likewise, minister for Energy, Water Resource, and Irrigation Barsha Man Pun also attributed the profit and reduction of cumulative loss – in the last three years – to leakage control, tightening payment of dues, and improved situation of distribution lines and sub-stations.
The power leakage has been reduced to 15.32 per cent in the fiscal year 2018-19 from 20.45 per cent in the fiscal year 2017-18, according to the NEA. “The power leakage in the fiscal year 2009-10 stood at 28.91 per cent,’ the NEA annual report reads, adding that the control in leakage is also due to regular campaign. “The NEA has been running campaigns to control power theft, control leakage, tighten payment of due bills and these initiatives have helped reduce power leakage.”
The leakage is 11 per cent on the distribution side and 4 per cent on the technical side. The NEA has reached South Asian standard in controlling distribution leakage, whereas it is now focusing on reduction of technical leakage. “We are planning to reduce the leakage by five percentage points and maintain it at around 10 per cent in the ongoing fiscal year,” Ghising said, adding that the NEA expects to meet the average electricity leakage of other South Asian countries, which stands at eight to 10 per cent.
According to the NEA annual report, the number of consumers connected to the national grid has also increased by 10 per cent in the last fiscal year. “However, a major quantum of power being consumed in the country is being supplied from India, it adds.
“Of the total 7.55 billion units of electricity consumed in the country in the last fiscal year, NEA had contributed 2.55 billion units, independent power producers had supplied 2.19 billion units and the remaining 2.81 billion units was imported from India,” the report reads, adding that NEA has, meanwhile, exported 34.7 million units of electricity worth Rs 320 million to India through various local cross-border transmission lines. “NEA has built a total of 757 km of transmission circuit line, of which a length of 606 km has been charged in the national grid so far.”
The NEA also constructed 9,722 km of local distribution lines that are of below 33 kVA capacity in the last fiscal year, whereas NEA constructed 40 substations and installed 6,581 new transformers across the country.
The NEA report also reads that NEA has completed the construction of 60-MW Upper Trishuli III A hydropower project, and hopes to complete the 456-MW Upper Tamakoshi hydropower project by this fiscal year.

New NEA Act on Cards
“A new electricity act is on cards to match the federal structure and replace the existing NEA Act 1984,” Pun said, adding that the country has aimed to end the use of petrol, diesel, cooking gas and replace it with the use of electricity. “The draft will also be forwarded to the provinces and concerned stakeholders to receive feedback and suggestions.”
He also informed that the new act will have a provision to allocate shares of NEA to the public.
“We are about to finalise the criteria for establishing vehicle charging stations to encourage electric vehicles,” Pun said, adding that that the government is also planning to formulate policy to promote electric cooking in every household.

Fiscal Year – Profit – Leakage
2016-17 – Rs 1.5 bn – 22.90 per cent
2017-18 – Rs 2.9 bn – 20.45 per cent
2018-19 – Rs 7.2 bn – 15.32 per cent
2019-20 (projected) – Rs 15 bn – 10.50 per cent
Source: NEA

Government relaxes location requirement for casinos

Amending a clause in the Casino Regulation 2013, the government has relaxed location requirements for casinos and electronic gaming operation along international borders.
A cabinet meeting – on June 27 – has decided to allow casinos and electronic gaming houses to operate up to a distance of 3 km from the international border. Under the original clause, casinos and electronic gaming houses had to be at least 5 km away from the international border.
A number of operators in Kakarbhitta, Biratnagar, Birgunj, Nepalgunj and Dhangadhi had raised concern over the restrictions, according to the spokesperson of the Tourism Ministry Ghanshyam Upadhyaya. “The government has shown flexibility by allowing casinos to operate at a distance of up to 3 km from international borders in the context of the upcoming Visit Nepal Year 2020 campaign.”
Currently, there are some five-star hotels under construction at the Nepal-India border points. “But the investors have been raising concern over the location requirement in the Casino Regulation 2013,” he said, clarifying the need to amend the Regulation.
The Department of Tourism – that issues casino and electronic gaming licences – had proposed allowing casinos to be set up at international border points with no minimum distance. The department – apart from amending the casino regulation – has been working on preparing a new Casino Act along with the Tourism Act.
Currently casinos are governed by the Casino Regulation 2013. The government felt it necessary to pass a separate law to bring the existing casinos into line as many of them have been operating without paying taxes and royalties on the strength of the Supreme Court’s interim orders. The department said that casino royalty irregularities currently amount to Rs1.25 billion. In 2013, the Tourism Ministry scrapped the licences of casinos defaulting on royalties as per the Casino Regulation 2013.
The government formed the Casino Act to streamline the industry and encourage new global players to enter Nepal amid expectations of a boom in the gaming industry with the ongoing development of nearly a dozen five-star hotels across the country.