Draft e-commerce rules transparent and reliable: CAIT
Premium- The rules need to be monitored to ensure compliance on behalf of marketplaces and sellers, the trade body said
Trade association, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Wednesday said the Proposed Amendments to the Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules, 2020 released by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs earlier this week to prevent any “unfair" trade practices on e-commerce are transparent and reliable.
However, the rules need to be monitored to ensure compliance on behalf of marketplaces and sellers, the trade body that represents scores of small and large retailers said.
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“With the release of a draft of the proposed rules for e-commerce under Consumer Protection Act, the much controversial e-commerce business in India will transform in a new shape leaving no scope for the foreign funded e-commerce companies to further dodge the policy or the rules. However, beside the rules, there is a need for a Monitoring mechanism to ensure that laws and the rules are complied in toto both in letter and spirit," B C Bhartia, national president and Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general of CAIT said.
The proposed amendments are open for comments and industry suggestions till 06 July.
Among various other rules—the ministry has proposed monitoring of fast sales hosted by marketplaces. E-commerce firms are also required to submit information to law enforcement agencies within 72 hours during investigations and stop all related parties from selling on their marketplaces.
CAIT has been agitating against what it says are unfair practices carried out by marketplaces that it says helps large e-commerce sites give preferential treatment to some sellers and that steep discounts hurt business for offline retailers.
‘The amended rules will positively impact the e-commerce business in India which is having a projected annual market of about $84 billion in 2021 These amended rules will bring some of the major and important changes in e-commerce business and will not only clean the e-commerce spectrum but will also force several e-commerce companies to change their existing business format," CAIT said n its statement.
Once the rules are implemented, traders across the country will be inclined to open their e-shops, and on the other hand it will generate confidence among the consumers.
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