News:Government has released the draft Consumer Protection (e-Commerce) Rules,2019.
Facts:
About the E-commerce rules:
- Unfair Trade Practices:The rules prohibit E-commerce firms from adopting unfair methods or deceptive practice that may influence transactional decisions of consumers to products and services.
- False reviews:It also bars such entities from falsely representing themselves as consumers or post reviews about good and services.
- Transparency:The e-commerce firms have to display the details of the sellers including the identity of their business, legal name and contact details.
- Grievance officer:They will also have to publish the name and contact details of the Grievance Officer(GO) on its website.In the case of accepted refund requests by consumers for payments,e-comm entity has to be dispensed within two weeks.
- Fake Products:Ecommerce player will be held guilty and secondary liability if it has made an assurance vouching for the authenticity of a product but it turns out to be a fake.
- Advertisements:Ecommerce player will have to ensure that ads for products are in line with the features they provide.
Additional information:
About E-Commerce sector:
- The e-commerce sector in India has been witnessing an explosive growth fuelled by an increase in the number of online users,growing penetration of smartphones and the rising popularity of social media platforms.
- According to a Morgan Stanley report,India is adding one internet user every three seconds and the e-commerce sector in India is estimated to
