The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution on Tuesday said the guidelines drafted for e-commerce firms will be incorporated in the new Consumer Protection Act to protect consumers’ interest.
“The draft guidelines on e-commerce will be made part of the rules under the new consumer protection law. Once included under rules, the guidelines become mandatory,” Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said while addressing a press conference on Tuesday. Paswan spoke to media after meeting of a dozen parliamentarians called to address their concerns before proceeding with the framing of rules to implement the law.
“Every MP’s view was that e-commerce guidelines should be incorporated as part of the rules under the new law. We are accepting their suggestion,” Paswan added.
As per the draft guidelines on e-commerce, the companies are required to submit a self-declaration to the ministry stating that it is conforming with the guidelines. The proposed guidelines for e-commerce firms entail a 14-day deadline to effect refund request, mandate e-tailers to display details of sellers supplying goods and services on their websites and moot the procedure to resolve consumer complaints.
Consumer Affairs Secretary Avinash K Srivastava said Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) — which will be established to promote, protect and enforce consumer rights under the new law — will take action against violating e-commerce firms.
The e-commerce sector in India has been witnessing an explosive growth fuelled by increase in the number of online users, growing penetration of smartphones and the rising popularity of social media platforms. According to a February 2019 Morgan Stanley report, India is adding one Internet user every three seconds and the e-commerce sector in India is estimated to reach USD 230 billion by 2028, accounting for 10 per cent of India’s retail.
Talking about exclusion of Health Sector from the purview of the Bill, Paswan said rules for the health sector will continue to remain as they are currently. He said the views of the Health Ministry were also considered and the consumers are free to approach consumer forum case of any infringement of their rights.
