There is a difference of opinion between the parliamentarians and the government on whether to deal with business through social media in the bill on e-commerce that has been passed by the National Assembly of the Parliament and is currently being discussed in various committees of the House of Representatives.

The representative of the government argues that social media is not a platform for doing business and buying and selling between individuals should not be considered as e-commerce, while the parliamentarians are of the opinion that if these issues are not covered by law, such business will be illegal. 

On Tuesday, in the meeting of the Industry and Commerce and Labor and Consumer Welfare Committee, the secretaries and joint secretaries of various ministries who drafted the bill were of the opinion that it would be uncomfortable to include the social media marketplace in it . The parliamentarians thought that social media marketplaces, which are currently in use, should be included, saying that age-appropriate and timely laws are necessary.

The Secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supply, Gobinda Bahadur Karki, said that it cannot be recognized in the bill because there is a problem in ensuring the identity of the seller and the buyer and the quality of the goods in the business done through social media . He opined that anyone who wants to do business online should create a platform and register the business to bring the business into legal scope. 

'Since e-commerce has to be made reliable, the way things are bought and sold through social networks, fraud and bullying cannot be brought under the law, this bill has not yet recognized the business through those platforms,' Secretary Karki said, 'Advertisement of goods and services through social networks. It can be done but this should not be the means of buying and selling. But we can understand from the technical side with the Department of Information Technology whether small businesses who cannot establish their own platform can do business through social media by being listed on the electronic portal established in the Department of Commerce.'  

National Independent Party MP Ganesh Parajuli argued that the social media marketplace should be included in the bill. He said it would be unfair to keep such means outside the law. "If the platforms being followed and used by Yug are ignored, we cannot make another law to address them," he said. Such marketplaces should also be addressed and legalized by law.'  

CPN-UML MP Hemraj Rai   He said that there is also a marketplace within social networks like Facebook and that such business should be legally recognized in terms of buying and selling of goods and goods among users. "I did not know that there is a marketplace within Facebook, but after learning about it and understanding that there is buying and selling between individuals, I thought it would be appropriate to include it in the law," said Rai.

Similarly, Hum Bahadur KC, joint secretary of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, pointed out that there is no problem in including this type of business in the bill if it is possible to issue sales, payments and bill receipts through social media. Anil Kumar Dutt, joint secretary of the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, stated that there is a challenge in regulating foreign social networks and expressed the opinion that it should be more clear. 

"Social networks made in Nepal can be regulated easily, but we are in a difficult situation to register foreign platforms," ​​said Joint Secretary Dutt, "Platforms like Meta, Viber are registered in the Internal Revenue Department's system and are paying taxes." Tiktok has also given access to one of its interfaces to the Cyber ​​Bureau . By discussing with the Revenue Department and understanding their system, we can bring clarity about the inclusion of business through the marketplace in this bill.' 

'Will it continue to be discussed forever?'

Industries Minister Damodar Bhandari took a dig at the committee meeting saying that it took a long time to pass the bill. He said that even though the same bill was being discussed in the same committee for 8/10 months, it could not be concluded. "When any bill reaches the committee, many processes are completed, the ministry starts the draft and reaches the cabinet after the inter-ministerial opinion, and after the discussion in the committee in the cabinet, it finally reaches the parliament committee," he said. When will it be put into practice ?'