The provisions of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works came into force on January 11, 2006 in Nepal.

The Copyright Act 2059 B.S. (enacted in 2002) had already incorporated the provisions of the Berne Convention related to copyrights and intellectual property rights protection. This Convention adopted at Berne in 1886 was the first one to establish the recognition of copyrights between sovereign nations.

The Berne Convention has been revised a few times: Berlin (1908), Rome (1928), Brussels (1948), Stockholm (1967) and Paris (1971).

It provides that each contracting state recognizes as copyrighted works created by nationals from other contracting parties. Therefore, the signatories of this Convention have to protect the copyright on works of authors from other member countries in the same way it protects the copyright of its own nationals. There is no explicit registration required.

India, Thailand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, China, Indonesia, Singapore, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Bhutan and now Nepal are members of the Berne Convention.