The Nice Classification System in Nepal: Class Selection Guidelines

The 45 classes, and how Nepal uses them

The Nice Classification divides all commerce into 45 classes — Classes 1–34 for goods, 35–45 for services — maintained by WIPO and revised in periodic editions. Nepal's Department of Industry applies it under Section 18A: an application states its class and the goods or services within that class that the mark covers.

Because applications are one class each, classification in Nepal is not an administrative detail — it is the geometry of your protection. Two businesses with identical names but different classes can coexist; the same name two classes apart can collide once goods overlap.

• Classes 1–34: goods (chemicals, paints, pharmaceuticals, metals, machines, foodstuffs, textiles, vehicles…)
• Classes 35–45: services (advertising and retail, finance, telecom, transport, food and hospitality, legal…)
• One application per class, one fee per class — a multi-class business is a multi-application filing

The class heading is a door, not the room

Each class carries an official heading — 'Class 30: coffee, tea, cocoa…' — but protection is defined by the goods/services wording in the application. Two filers in Class 30 can sit decades apart if one claims 'coffee beans' and the other 'seasoning spices'. Examiners read the wording against earlier marks in the class.

The reliable method: describe what you sell in plain language, map each item to its class via the NCL alphabetical list and explanatory notes, and draft the specification in terms a Nepal examiner will accept — specific enough to be examined, broad enough to cover the product line you are building toward.

• Start from your actual products/services, not from the class list
• Use the NCL alphabetical entries to place each item; explanatory notes settle edge cases
• Draft wording that names the commercial items — 'packaged tea', 'restaurant services' — not marketing abstractions

The traps that cost real money

Classification practice has recurring traps, and most have a Nepal flavour. Honey sits in Class 30 with foods of plant origin, not Class 29. Solar panels are Class 9 apparatus, while installing them is Class 37 and generating power is Class 40. Retail and import-export services land in Class 35 even when the goods sold belong elsewhere. Telecom and ISPs are Class 38; software is Class 9 while SaaS-style services gravitate to Class 42. Getting these wrong is the difference between a registration that blocks a competitor and one that does not.

The other trap is scope discipline: filing in a class where you have no goods or services invites weak examinations and dead renewals; filing too narrowly leaves the adjacent product line exposed. The practical rule is to file where revenue is, plus the class you can credibly show you are entering next.

Multi-class businesses: the filing plan

Since each class is its own application (see our separate guide on why Nepal requires single-class filings), a business spanning three classes faces three applications, three examination tracks and three renewal cycles. That is not a reason to file fewer classes — it is a reason to sequence them: file the core class immediately, add adjacent classes before launch in each, and use the 6-month Paris Convention window to back-fill priority for foreign brands.

Budget per class for the journey: NPR 1,000 application + NPR 5,000 registration, then NPR 3,500 per class per 7-year renewal in current practice. Ten classes filed thoughtfully beat twenty filed carelessly — every class you file is a class you must examine, respond for, and renew.