Consumer Protection Act 2019 & E Commerce Rule By vijay Pal Dalmia

Описание: E-COMMERCE ENTITIES IN INDIA - NEW STRINGENT RULES & OBLIGATIONS BY
Vijay Pal Dalmia, Advocate
Supreme Court of India & Delhi High Court
Partner Vaish Associates Mobile: +91 9810081079
Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn:   / vpdalmia  
Twitter: @vpdalmia Facebook:   / vpdalmia  

Recently, the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 came into effect on 20 July, 2020 replacing the almost three decades old previous Act of 1986. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution also brought e-commerce companies under the structured umbrella of consumer redressal of the Act. This would ensure the strict scrutiny of the consumer redressal watchdog to review the conduct of e-commerce companies.
Section 2(16) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 defines e-commerce as:
“(16) "e-commerce" means buying or selling of goods or services including digital products over digital or electronic network ”
The Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules, 2020 have been notified and come into force, and the same focuses specifically on the nuances of regulating the activities of these companies. Rule 3(1) b defines economic entity as:
““e-commerce entity” means any person who owns, operates or manages digital or electronic facility or platform for electronic commerce, but does not include a seller offering his goods or services for sale on a marketplace e-commerce entity ”
The Rules focus on duties, liabilities and grievance redressal involving e-commerce entities.
Duties of e-commerce entity (Under Rule 4) are as under:
1. The e-commerce company should be a company incorporated under
a. the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956) or
b. the Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013) or
c. a foreign company covered under clause (42) of section 2 of the Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013) or
d. an office, branch or agency outside India owned or controlled by a person resident in India as provided in sub-clause (iii) of clause (v) of section 2 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (42 of 1999).
Accordingly, it has become mandatory for an Indian entity to be a company incorporated in India under the old or new Companies Act.
2. Appointment of nodal officer resident in India to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Act or the rules made thereunder.
3. It has become mandatory to provide details of
a. legal name of the company,
b. principal geographic addresses of the headquarters and offices,
c. name and details of the website,
d. all contact details like e-mail address, fax, landline, and mobile numbers of customer care, and
e. contact details like e-mail address, fax, landline, and mobile numbers of grievance officer.
The above clearly implies that a grievance officer has to be mandatorily appointed. The primary idea behind the above is that full disclosure should be made to the customer.
4. Prohibition on engaging in unfair trade practices in any form.
5. Establishment of proper grievance redressal system along with displaying contact details of the officer appointed for the same on its platform.
6. Consumer complaints to be acknowledged by the grievance office within 48 hours, and to be redressed within a month from the date of receipt of the complaint.
7. In case of imported goods, name and details of the importer or the seller shall be mentioned on the platform.
8. Efforts to become a partner in the convergence process of National Consumer Helpline.
9. No imposition of cancellation charges if similar charges are not borne by the e-commerce entity.
10. Consent of the consumer for the purchase of any good or service offered on the platform should be explicit, clear and recorded. The same shall not be recorded through any pre-ticked check boxes.
11. Payments of accepted refund requests should be carried through methods decided by the Reserve Bank of India or any other competent authority under law.
12. Manipulation of the prices of goods and services offered on the platform for gaining unreasonable profit and discrimination between consumers of same class or arbitrary classification is not allowed.
13. No discriminate shall be made between consumers of the same class or make any arbitrary classification of consumers affecting their rights under the Act.