Traders’ body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which has been battling e-commerce corporations more than their alleged unethical organization practices such as FDI violation for years now, has as soon as once again written to Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal. In a letter sent to the minister on Sunday, CAIT accused Amazon, Flipkart, Zomato, Swiggy, and other entities of violation of mandatory show of Country of Origin, manufacturer, and seller information on items sold by means of their respective platforms beneath Consumers Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 and suggestions of Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). The traders’ body mentioned that government desires to take “immediate action against e-commerce entities including Amazon, Flipkart, Zomato, Swiggy, and others. It is a case of daylight robbery of e-commerce entities in India.”
Rule 10 of Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 provide mandates e-commerce entities to show the name and address of the manufacturer, name of the nation of origin, prevalent/generic name of the item, net quantity, ideal prior to/use by date (if applicable), maximum retail price tag, dimensions of the commodity, and so on. “This Rule was introduced in June 2017 and provided a transition period of six months but even after a lapse of three years, the above rules are not being complied by e-commerce companies prominently by Amazon, Flipkart, etc,” CAIT National President B C Bhartia and Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal mentioned in a statement citing the letter sent to Piyush Goyal.
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The government had in June final year mandated sellers on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM), amid developing chorus in India to ban import and use of Chinese goods, to mention the Country of Origin of goods sold on the platform. Later this was produced mandatory for sellers on private marketplaces as nicely. While sellers on Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal and other individuals had began to show the expected information and facts, Amazon and Flipkart had told the Delhi High Court in September that they are only ‘marketplace-based’ e-commerce platforms or intermediaries and that the duty for the exact same rests with the manufacturer or seller and not on the listing platform, according to The Indian Express report. In October, the government had also reportedly issued notices to Flipkart and Amazon for not displaying the information and facts such as nation of origin, items sold on their platforms, and so on.
“Similar obligations were imposed on e-commerce food business operators vide guidelines issued by the Food Safety & Standards Authority (FSSAI) on 2 February 2017. But such FBOs like Zomato, Swiggy, etc. are not complying with the above rules,” Bhartia and Khandelwal mentioned in a joint statement. CAIT had earlier written to Piyush Goyal accusing Amazon of violating FEMA norms and also had also urged him to ask e-commerce corporations to comply with the FDI policy in letter and spirit.