Etailers to Display Product Origin To Avoid Penalization

Union Minister for Consumer Affairs Ram Vilas Paswan, in his latest statement, has asked e-commerce companies to highlight the origin of the product by 1st August 2020. The companies operating in the E-commerce platform believe that the said rule must be implemented in a phased manner. The union ministry has a strict plan to make Etailer companies follow the order with the imposition of fines up to Rs.1 lakh, followed with a jail term for all manufacturers, e-commerce firms and marketing agencies involved in the import of packed items in case they fail to reveal the country from which the products have been imported. 

Secretary of consumer affairs, Leena Nandan in her statement informed that the penalty for the offenses would be a stage-wise process, for the first offense would attract a penalty up to INR 25K, for the second offense it will be extended to INR 50K, and any subsequent offense would be liable with a penalty INR 1 Lakh and also a  jail term of one year.

Paswan has also mentioned in his writing that all e-commerce companies and state governments should strictly follow the rules and very importantly highlight the country of origin for the said product. The rule forms part of the Packaged Commodities Rules. Going one step further the consumer affairs ministry has also set up the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to deal with such cases. In the same way, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has also asked big players in the market like Amazon, Flipkart and others to fulfill this criterion for all products which are listed by the sellers on their platform, the deadline for the same has been set to October 1, 2020.

The E-commerce companies have reportedly requested a phased implementation in the meeting held on July 8 as they require more time with respect to the changes they need to make on their websites in order to comply with the above-mentioned rule. The companies also gave out the reason that this quick move can bring loss to small sellers and MSMEs. With some companies asking for a time period of 3-4 months, to complete with all the due proceedings, the government has still not specified the final deadline. 

The government seems to be very strict with its decision which can very well be understood with the fact that it asked the sellers on public procurement portal Government e-Marketplace (GeM) to specify the place of origin for the products. Paswan has also taken a remarkable step by banning the purchase of Chinese products or services from the concerned platform.