Geographical Indications in Nepal: Protecting Ilam Tea & Pashmina

Ilam tea and pashmina are not registered geographical indications in Nepal, because Nepal has no GI law, GI register or GI tag, as of our last check. Tea estates, pashmina makers and their associations protect their names today with trademarks at the Department of Industry, and with a passing-off claim when someone copies their goodwill.

Key takeaways

• A geographical indication (GI) is a name showing that goods come from a place whose quality or reputation is due to that origin.
• Nepal’s Patent, Design and Trade Mark Act 1965 covers patents, designs and trademarks only. It has no GI chapter and no GI certificate.
• The Act also has no separate category for collective or certification marks. A shared logo is registered as an ordinary trademark in one owner’s name.
• Place words such as ILAM, ILAMELI, CHYANGRA and PASHMINA already appear in the trademark register, each owned by a single applicant.
• An estate protects its own brand; an association can own a shared logo and let members use it in writing.
• A Nepali trademark does not protect tea or shawls sold abroad. Each export market needs its own filing.

Is Ilam tea a registered GI in Nepal?

No. Nepal’s industrial property law is the 1965 Act, and it defines only three rights: patents, designs and trademarks. WIPO’s list of Nepal’s IP laws shows that Act and the Copyright Act 2002, and no law on geographical indications.

So there is no GI application, no GI examination and no official GI tag for Ilam tea, pashmina or anything else. If someone offers you a “GI certificate”, ask which law it is issued under.

A common claim online is that producer groups can file a collective or certification trademark under the 1965 Act. The Act does not create those categories. Sec. 2(c) defines a trademark as a word, symbol or picture, or a combination, used by a firm, company or individual to distinguish its goods or services. A group can still own a trademark, but it is the same kind of trademark any business files.

Is Chyangra Pashmina a certification mark?

The Chyangra Pashmina logo is widely described as a collective or certification-style mark, promoted by Nepal’s pashmina industry to mark genuine goods made from the fine undercoat of the Himalayan chyangra goat. That description comes from the industry and trade press, not from a GI or certification register in Nepal, because Nepal has neither.

In Nepal, a shared logo like this would sit on the register as an ordinary trademark owned by one body, which then allows members to use it. In the more than 120 bulletins in our archive, published since 2006, we found no mark named Chyangra Pashmina. The CHYANGRA marks we did find are for beer, in Class 32, and for bags and garments, filed in Class 24.

The logo may have been registered before our archive starts, or abroad. Before you describe any logo as “certified”, check its status with its owner or the Department of Industry (DoI).

What does Nepal’s trademark register show for these names?

Place names enter the register one brand at a time. Our archive includes a label mark named ILAM, published in Class 30 (the class for tea) in Volume 8, No. 3 of the Industrial Property Bulletin in 2014, in the name of a single applicant, Shree Nepal Tea Development Corporation. It also includes tea marks built on “Ilameli”.

Pashmina is similar. About a dozen marks in our archive mention pashmina, each owned by its own company, such as FEWA PASHMINA. None is a shared regional right.

You can see these records yourself with our trademark search, which covers marks published in DoI bulletins. It shows publication, not whether a mark was later registered or renewed. The goods and services search finds marks by what they cover, such as tea or shawls, and the owner search lists everything one applicant has filed.

Can “Ilam” alone be registered as a trademark?

A bare place name is a weak brand. Sec. 18 lets the DoI refuse a mark that damages the goodwill of another trademark, harms public conduct or morality, or is already registered in someone else’s name. A plain geographic word can also struggle to show that it points to one business.

The ILAM label shows that a place name can be published as part of a mark. What that registration would let its owner stop, for example a small grower who truthfully writes “tea from Ilam” on a pack, is a legal question. Ask a lawyer before you rely on a place name, or before you worry that someone else owns it.

The safer route is a distinctive estate, family or invented name, with the region shown as a description.

Who should own the mark, an estate or an association?

It depends on who the name serves. An estate or exporter selling under its own name should own its own mark. Growers or weavers who want one shared sign need a body that can own the mark and control its use.

Both can happen at once: a member estate can print its own brand and the association’s logo on the same pack.

How does an association let members use a shared logo?

By permission in writing. Sec. 21D of the Act lets a trademark owner transfer a mark or approve its use in writing, and the two parties can file a joint application so the DoI records it. That is the tool an association has instead of a certification-mark system.

The permission is only as strong as the rules behind it. Good rules say:

• which area the goods must come from, described on a map;
• what standard the goods must meet, such as leaf plucking and processing for tea, or fibre content for pashmina;
• who inspects, and what records members keep;
• how a member is suspended or removed for misuse.

How do you register a tea or pashmina brand in Nepal?

1. Choose a distinctive name. Use a word that points to your business, and show the region as a description.
2. Search the register. Check similar names and logos. Our trademark search service gives a written clearance opinion.
3. Pick the classes. Tea is usually Class 30; fabric Class 24; shawls and clothing Class 25. Nepal needs one application per class, and the NICE class finder helps you start.
4. File at the Department of Industry. You need the application, the label and supporting papers. An agent files with a notarised power of attorney.
5. Clear examination and the bulletin. The DoI examines the mark and publishes it in the Industrial Property Bulletin, which opens a 90-day opposition window for anyone to object.
6. Receive the certificate and renew. A trademark lasts seven years from registration (Sec. 18D) and is renewable in seven-year terms (Sec. 23B).

An unopposed trademark usually takes about 12–14 months, and 6–8 months only in the smoothest cases. Our trademark registration service handles each step for an estate, an exporter or an association. We do not offer GI registration, because there is no GI register to file in.

How is Darjeeling tea different from Ilam tea?

Darjeeling sits just across the border from Ilam, and the two teas are often compared. The legal position is not the same. India passed a geographical indications law in 1999 and registered Darjeeling tea as its first GI in 2004, so Darjeeling producers have a shared, registered origin right at home.

Ilam growers have no equivalent in Nepal today. That is not a judgment on the tea; it is simply that Nepal has no GI register to file in. Until it does, Ilam estates rely on their own brands and on shared logos owned by their associations.

Does a Nepali registration protect pashmina sold abroad?

No. Trademark rights are national. Nepal is not part of the Madrid System, so there is no single international filing that covers Nepal and your export markets together. A brand sold in India, Europe or the United States needs a filing in each of those places.

The Paris Convention helps with timing. Nepal has been a member since 22 June 2001, and the Convention gives trademark owners six months from a first filing to file in other member countries while keeping the first filing date. Some export markets run their own GI systems; ask a lawyer in that market whether a Nepali group can use them.

Is a GI law coming to Nepal?

Possibly. Press reports in 2025 and 2026 describe a draft Industrial Property Bill from the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies that would add geographical indications, and some reports name Ilam tea as an example. A draft is not law. We could not confirm its text or status on an official site, so do not plan around it yet.

If Nepal adopts a GI law, the Department of Industry would publish the procedure. Until then, the trademark route above is what exists.

Common mistakes with Ilam and pashmina names

• Paying for a “GI tag”. Nepal issues no GI certificate today.
• Calling a trademark a certification mark. Describe it accurately: a registered trademark owned by a named body.
• Filing only the place name. It is weak, may be refused, and may clash with earlier marks.
• Using a shared logo without written permission. Get it in writing, and record it with the DoI.
• Choosing one class. Fabric, shawls and a retail shop can sit in different classes.
• Assuming Nepal covers exports. It does not.

What does this look like for an Ilam tea estate?

Here is an illustration, not a real case. A family estate in the Ilam hills sells orthodox tea under the name of its garden. It wants buyers to know the tea is from Ilam, and it wants to stop a packer copying its label.

The estate registers its garden name and logo in Class 30, and prints “grown in Ilam, Nepal” as a plain description. It also joins a growers’ association that owns a shared logo and lets members use it under written rules. When a packer copies the garden label, the estate relies on its registration. When a trader only writes “Ilam tea” on lowland tea, the estate and the association take legal advice.

In short

Ilam tea and pashmina have no GI tag in Nepal, because Nepal has no GI law or register, as far as we can find. Estates, exporters and associations protect their own names and logos as ordinary trademarks, class by class, and control shared logos by written permission. Exports need separate filings in each market.

People also search for

• Does Nepal have a geographical indication law?
• How can a tea brand in Nepal protect its name?
• How do you protect a pashmina brand?
• What is the difference between a GI and a trademark?
• What can Champagne and Darjeeling teach Nepal?

Selling tea or pashmina under a name you want to keep? Tell us about your product and your market and we will explain what can be protected today. This article is general information, not legal advice.