The Central Government recently issued a notification dated 23rd July 2020 for e-commerce players making online retailers more accountable and their businesses more transparent under the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020.
In this write-up, we will discuss about the duties of e-commerce entities as per the new e-commerce rules.
Applicability:
(a) all goods and services bought or sold over digital or electronic network including digital products,
(b) all models of e-commerce, including marketplace and inventory models of e-commerce,
(c) all e-commerce retail, including multi-channel single brand retailers and single brand retailers in single or multiple formats; and
(d) all forms of unfair trade practices across all models of e-commerce
An e-commerce entity shall be a company under CA act, 1956 or 2013 or a Foreign Company under CA, 2013 or an office branch or agency outside India owned or controlled by a person resident in India as provided under FEMA, 1999.
Duties of e-commerce entities:
DO’s
Displaying some important information on its platform:
Every e-commerce entity shall provide the following information on its platform, displayed prominently to its users, namely: —
√ legal name of the e-commerce entity;
√ principal geographic address of its headquarters and all branches;
√ name and details of its website; and
√ contact details like e-mail address, fax, landline and mobile numbers of customer care as well as of grievance officer.
Establishment of grievance redressal mechanism:
Every e-commerce entity shall establish an adequate grievance redressal mechanism and shall appoint a grievance officer for consumer grievance redressal, and shall display the name, contact details, and designation of such officer on its platform.
Mention the name and details of the importer:
If an e-commerce entity offers imported goods or services for sale it shall mention the name and details of any importer from whom it has purchased such goods or services.
Cancellation charges shall not be levied on consumers:
E-commerce entities shall not be levied on consumers on cancellation after confirming the purchase unless similar charges are also borne by the e- commerce entity, if they cancel the purchase order unilaterally for any reason.
Recording the consent of consumer for purchase of any good or service:
Every e-commerce entity shall only record the consent of a consumer for the purchase of any good or service offered on its platform where such consent is expressed through an explicit and affirmative action, and no such entity shall record such consent automatically, including in the form of pre-ticked checkboxes.
DON’T’s:
Price of any good or services shall not be manipulated:
E-commerce entities shall not manipulate the price of the goods or services offered on its platform to gain unreasonable profit by imposing on consumers any unjustified price.
Consumers shall not be discriminated:
E-commerce entity shall not discriminate between consumers of the same class or make any arbitrary classification of consumers affecting their rights under the Act.
Conclusion –In this article we have covered only the duties of e-commerce entities. In my next article, we will have an in-depth review about the new regulations and its impact on marketplace e-commerce entities.
Disclaimer: The entire contents of this article is solely for information purpose and have been prepared based on relevant provisions and as per the information existing at the time of the preparation. It doesn’t constitute professional advice or a formal recommendation. The author has undertaken utmost care to disseminate the true and correct view and doesn’t accept liability for any errors or omissions. You are kindly requested to verify & confirm the updates from the genuine sources before acting on any of the information’s provided herein above.
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