Petition In Supreme Court Seeks Law on Compulsory Display of ‘Country of Origin’ on E-Commerce Sites Like Amazon and Flipkart
Recently a petition has been filed in Supreme Court. This petition argues that buyers will be able to make a better decision about product if they know the country of origin of the product. Buyers want to boycott CHINESE PRODUCTS but due to lack of information they are unable to do the same in case of online purchases.
In Petition it is said that the government should be directed by Supreme Court to tell the e-commerce operators like Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal and those who are selling any product, should prominently display the information about Country of Origin. This will the help the buyers decide whether they want to buy that country’s product or not.
A new law should be framed as per the suggestion given in petition. If the government does not want to make a new law, then information about origin of country can be given to people by making an amendment in section 2 (9) of the Consumer Protection Act. Currently, under this section it is right of a consumer to get all these information’s about a product.
It is worth mentioning that e-commerce companies has been asked by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) to display the COUNTRY OF ORIGIN on each product being sold on their platforms. Some Companies has accepted the suggestion and have started providing this information on their portal.
To ensure that the name of the manufacturing country is displayed on the products being sold on e-commerce sites, a similar plea was filed in High Court seeking directions to centre.
In response to the PIL, the Centre told the High Court that the e-commerce companies like, Flipkart, Amazon, Snapdeal through an affidavit will ensure that the country of origin will be displayed on the imported products which are being sold on their platforms.
In a statement by government it was stated that according to the Legal Metrology Act and Rules, E-commerce sites have to display country of origin on the “digital and electronic network used for e-commerce transactions”
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