2019 – Posted in: Daily News

DRAFT GUIDELINES ON E-COMMERCE

For: Mains

Topics covered: Draft guidelines on e-commerce, Guidelines for registration, advantages and significances

News Flash

The Department of Consumer Affairs has released draft guidelines on e-commerce to protect the interest of online shoppers.

It is open for stakeholder comments for 45 days or till September 16, 2019.

Highlights

It is said that an e-commerce entity cannot directly or indirectly influence the price of the goods or services.
The draft adds that e-commerce firms need to ensure that personally identifiable information of customers is protected.
It added that every e-commerce entity needs to publish the name and contact details of the grievance officer on their website along with the mechanism by which users can lodge their complaints.
As per the draft, an e-commerce firm cannot falsely represent themselves as consumers or post reviews about goods and services in their name.
The draft proposed to make it mandatory for firms to display terms of the contract with the seller relating to return, refund, exchange, warranty/guarantee, delivery/shipment, mode of payments and grievance redressal mechanism to enable consumers to make informed decisions.
It is also proposed that once an e-commerce firm comes to know about any counterfeit product, and if the seller is unable to provide any evidence that the product is genuine, the firm needs to take down the listing and notify the consumers of the same.
The biggest changes could be that e-commerce players will now be mandated to make refunds as requested by consumers, within 14 days.

e-commerce players

This basically means that shopping websites including Amazon, Flipkart, Paytm Mall, Myntra, Jabong, Ajio, Tata Cliq, H&M, Zara, and others.
It is expected that services such as Zomato, Swiggy, and pretty much any food delivery service will also be regulated by the same set of rules.
It is not clear at the moment is whether taxi/cab aggregators such as Uber and Ola fall within the same category of e-commerce players or not.

Guidelines for registration

First, the business needs to be registered as a legal entity as per the laws of India.
The promoter or key management personnel should not have been convicted of any criminal offence punishable with imprisonment in the last 5 years by any Court of competent jurisdiction.
There also needs to be a declaration confirming compliance with the guidelines.
All e-commerce entities in India will have to comply with the provisions of Information Technology (Intermediaries guidelines) Rules, 2011.
All the payments are required to be facilitated by the e-commerce entity while following the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Significance

These are issued as guiding principles for e-commerce business for preventing fraud, unfair trade practices and protecting the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.
These guidelines apply to business-to-consumer e-commerce, including goods and services.

Way ahead

The e-commerce players in India including the likes of Amazon, Flipkart and Paytm Mall will have to adhere to the new guidelines when they come into effect after they are finalised.

Source: News 18

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