The Consumer Affairs Department of the Union government issued notices to both Flipkart and Amazon for not mandatorily displaying the information they are supposed to for products sold on their sites, including the country of origin. Both Amazon and Flipkart started their sales on Friday.
The notices have been issued by the Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. Apart from Amazon and Flipkart, notices have also been sent to other e-commerce players as well, and companies have been given 15 days to respond.
"It has been brought into notice that some of the e-commerce entities are not displaying the mandatory declaration on digital platforms required under the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011," said one of the notices. Both Flipkart and Amazon got similar notices.
In the case of Flipkart, the department specifically pointed out a ‘Flipkart SmartBuy 10000 mAh Power Bank’ and an Acer Aspire laptop that didn’t have the requisite information declared, while for Amazon, it pointed out a US Polo t-shirt.
“It has been brought into notice that some of the e-commerce entities are not displaying the mandatory declarations on digital platforms required under the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011,” the notice states.
It states that as per the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) rules, the e-commerce entity will have to make mandatory declarations and everything except the month and year of packaging will be displayed.
“In case of marketplace model of e-commerce, responsibility of the correctness of the declarations lie with the manufacturer or seller or dealer or importer,” it says.
In January 2018, the government amended the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 to add a new provision mandating declaration of 'country of origin' for manufacturers, importers, packers and e-commerce entities.
The provision for declarations on e-commerce sites is made under sub-rule 10 of rule 6 of the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011.
The Confederation of All India Traders called it a bold and much desired step, and called for the sales of both e-commerce players to be investigated to make sure all products are in compliance.