Synopsis: According to a letter addressed to the companies on 16 October from the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, the two e-commerce firms were given 15 days to clarify the lapses or to take action against them.
On Friday, the government issued notices to Amazon, Flipkart and other e-commerce companies for not mandatorily showing information, including country of origin, on products sold in India on its platforms. The development comes at a time when this week Amazon and Flipkart host their biggest festive sales events’ Great Indian Festival ‘and’ Big Billion Days’ and expect a huge increase in demand for products across the nation due to the pandemic of COVID-19.
The notification was sent by the Department of Consumer Affairs, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, on 16 October 2020. The businesses were asked to respond to the notices and clarify the reasons for the failure to comply within 15 days.
“Otherwise, with the available documents as provided for in the Act and Rules, action should be taken against you,” said the notice.
The letter stated that the Department of Consumer Affairs was told that some of the e-commerce entities do not display the mandatory declarations required under the Rules of Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities), 2011.
It claimed that it is mandatory to register producers, packers and importers of pre-packaged commodities. Each person who does this for sale is therefore required to be registered with the Legal Metrology director or controller.
The letter claimed that the responsibility for the accuracy of the declarations rests with the manufacturer, seller, distributor or importer in the marketplace model of e-commerce.
Amazon and Flipkart did not respond to queries about the matter immediately.
After the border-standoff between the two countries, combined with the government’s move for Aatmanirbhar Bharat, this development has come amid a growing clamour for the boycott of Chinese products in India.
“Neither sellers nor e-commerce platforms will ever be able to comply with the display of country of origin information unless the government makes it mandatory to display PDP (principal display panel picture on e-commerce sites,” said Sachin Taparia, founder and chairman of the community-led social media engagement platform LocalCircles.
The ‘Principal Display Panel’ (PDP) is part of a product label containing all of the item’s information, including country of origin and net material.
Experts said that the government’s new regulations for sellers to show ‘country of origin’ are a major obstacle, and the data will not be correct. This is a massive challenge that involves collecting information and feeding it to e-commerce markets.
Only on four sites, which include Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal and Paytm, a total of over 600 million items are listed. Amazon and Flipkart work in the country with lakhs of traders, artisans, weavers, and craftsmen.
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which represents 70 million traders, said that after the Central Government issued these notices, its fight against e-commerce firms for “indulging in malpractices” and “defying different laws” brought results.
“The government’s move shows its clear commitment to put the house in order,” CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said. He further said that non-compliance with regulations would not be tolerated.
Khandelwal asked the government to immediately investigate both Amazon and Flipkart’s festive sales. He alleged that no product was in compliance with the country of origin’s obligations.