E-commerce retailers should adhere to packaging rules: Govt

The Ministry of Consumers Affairs has brought e-commerce players under the purview of packaging rules. According to sources, the government has fixed the accountability for delivery of substandard products to online portals through their retail partners.

The new rules, which would be notified soon, would be applicable for all e-commerce players, including Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, etc.

"As e-commerce players act as a platform to book any product, they have to be liable for any breach of trust.

It's been noticed that online players pass the buck to their retail partners of any deficiency of service, which should not happen as they are equally responsible for providing quality product and service," the source said.

The Law Ministry has recently approved changes in the packaging rules for packed products and the new set of rules would be notified soon, the source said, adding that consumers would now get more empowered after changed rules come into effect.

"The new rules makes it must for e-commerce players to declare the price of the product on their portal and it should match with the price tag of the retailer. Other norms that online shopping portals have to follow include mentioning in bold letters dates of manufacturing and expiry, place of manufacturing, customer care details, etc," the source said.

"The ministry gets lots of complaints about double labelling. There have been instances that when the product was delivered, the buyers found the label on it lesser than what was claimed on the portal. The online shopping platforms would be penalised for breaching the trust of consumers," the source said.

Informing about the stringent Consumer Protection Bill, the source said that the final draft of the new bill is ready and a cabinet note on it has been circulated to all.

The Bill will be first tabled in the Cabinet and then after it would be introduced in the Parliament.