Govt Is Forcing Amazon, Flipkart To Stop Giving Deep Discounts To Customers; Draft Rules Formulated

Responding to the CAIT’s aggressive demand, the Government has finally taken a firm stand on the battle pronounced upon the e-commerce giants by CAIT. 

The Government has released a draft of the National E-commerce Policy, wherein the e-commerce giants have been banned from offering unreasonably deep discounts on commodities. 

To find out what the draft says, read on!

CAIT vs Flipkart, Amazon; Government Releases Draft of Consumer Protection Rules

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) had demanded that the e-commerce giants should be limited from offering commodities at horrendous discounts, and this war has been going on for a while. They even threatened with a dharna!

But the Government has finally breached the subject, and released ‘The Consumer Protection (e-Commerce) Rules, 2019. The Govt has also asked for comments on the draft by December 2, 2019.

The rules that are stated in the draft have been welcomed and accepted by the traders’ body and they have said that these new rules will make the e-commerce companies’ behavior transparent and accountable towards the customers.

E-Commerce Companies Under A Lot Of Rules As Declared By The New Draft

As per the draft, an e-commerce entity will not be allowed to “adopt any trade practice which for the purpose of promoting the sale, use or supply of any goods or for the provision of any service, or composite supply, adopts any unfair methods or unfair or deceptive practice that may influence transactional decisions of consumers in relation to products and services.”

Here’s what the draft says:

• E-commerce companies will have to provide details about sellers, such as the identity of their business, geographical address, website details, the identity of the business, products that are sold, and how they can be contacted by their customers. 
• E-commerce companies have been banned from misrepresenting themselves as customers and post reviews or oversell the products by amplifying their features or quality. 
• E-commerce platforms will have to accept the return of the delivered goods, if they have been delivered late, or if the product turns out to be defective, wrong or spurious. 
• Refunds should be made within 14 days of request by the customer. 
• The personal data and sensitive information about customers must be protected by e-commerce companies. The draft states that the companies should “ensure that personally identifiable information of customers are protected, and that such data collection and storage and use comply with provisions of the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008.”
• Terms of contracts with the sellers related to return, refund, exchange, warranty/guarantee, delivery/shipment, mode of payments, grievance redressal mechanism etc. will have to be displayed. This will help the customers to make informed decisions.