New Delhi: Traders body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has alleged that e-commerce entities such as Amazon and Flipkart are violating mandatory display of ‘country of origin’ as well as manufacturer rules.
In a letter addressed to the Union Minister for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Piyush Goyal, CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said that some e-commerce entities are violating the rules spelled out in Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules, 2020 and Legal
Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 and strict against should be taken against these entities.
“It is a pity that particularly in e-commerce every guidelines, rules and regulations, laws and policies are being flouted openly..resulting in to a highly vitiated and mess like e-commerce trade of India,” said Khandelwal in the letter shared with ETV Bharat.
Besides country of origin and manufacturer rules, the letter alleged that norms governing common/generic name of the product, maximum retail price, net quantity, dimensions of the commodity, etc have also been violated.
“Therefore, we request you to please direct the concerned officials and agencies to take immediate note of this and take strict action against erring e-commerce entities,” said the letter.
According to the CAIT, the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs introduced these norms way back in June 2017 and made applicable in January 2018.
Khandelwal also alleged that similar obligations were imposed on e-commerce food business operators, but entities like Zomato and Swiggy are not complying with these rules.
While the rules related to ‘country of origin’ are in place for quite some time, the government took a firm stand on the enforcement amid border tensions with China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Last June, the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal, which is used by the government agencies for procurement, also made it mandatory for sellers to mention ‘country of origin’ while registering all new products.
As per the government estimates, the Indian E-commerce market is expected to grow to USD 200 billion by 2026 from USD 38.5 billion as of 2017 on the back of rising smartphone penetration, availability of 4G network and increasing consumer wealth.
(Shravan Nune)
