Indian govt notifies new rules for e-com entities

25 Jul '20

2 min read

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India on July 23 notified new rules for e-commerce firms, including mandatory display of country of origin on their products, and said any non-compliance will attract penal action. The 'Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020' will be applicable to all electronic retailers registered in India or abroad but offering goods and services to Indian consumers.

According to the new rules, e-commerce companies have to display the total price of goods and services offered for sale along with a break-up of other charges.

They are also required to mention the expiry date of goods offered for sale, details about return, refund, exchange, warranty and guarantee, delivery and shipment, and any other information that may be required by consumers to make informed decisions, according to Indian media reports.

E-tailers should not impose cancellation charges on consumers cancelling after confirming purchase, unless similar charges are also borne by the e-commerce entity if it cancels the purchase order unilaterally for any reason.

They are also not allowed to manipulate the price of the goods and services offered on their platforms to gain unreasonable profit and discriminate between consumers of the same class or make any arbitrary classification of consumers affecting their rights under the act.

Further, e-tailers will have to provide information on available payment methods, the security of those payment methods, any fees or charges payable by users, the procedure to cancel regular payments under those methods, charge-back options, if any, and the contact information of the relevant payment service provider.

That apart, e-tailers are required to display prominently to the users details about the sellers offering goods and services, including the name of their business, whether registered or not, their geographic address, customer care number, any rating or other aggregated feedback about such seller, and any other information necessary for enabling consumers to make informed decisions at the pre-purchase stage.

They are also required to provide a ticket number for each complaint lodged, through which the consumer can track the status of the complaint.

However, the rules will not permit any inventory e-commerce entity, including single-brand retailers and multi-channel single-brand retailers, to falsely represent itself as a consumer and post reviews about goods and services or misrepresent the quality or the features of any goods and services.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

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