The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) under Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution on 26th October 2021, has taken strong action on violations of consumer rights.
As per rule 6(5)(d) of the Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules, 2020 mandate any seller offering goods or services through a marketplace-commerce entity to provide all relevant details about the goods and services offered for sale by the seller including country of origin, necessary for enabling the consumer to make an informed decision at the pre-purchase stage.
Rule 4(3) further stipulates that no e-commerce entity shall adopt any unfair trade practice, whether in the course of business on its platform or otherwise.
CCPA has sent Notice to e-commerce entities for violations reported on their platforms. CCPA has directed such entities to furnish detailed reply as to what are the tangible steps have been taken by them on this matter.
It has come to the notice of CCPA that some marketplace e-commerce entities are not complying with Rule 5(3)(e) of the E-Commerce Rules, 2020 which mandates every marketplace e-commerce entity to prominently display to its users, in a clear and accessible manner at an appropriate place on its platform all information provided to it by sellers under sub-rule (5) of rule 6 including the name, contact numbers, and designation of the grievance officer for consumer grievance redressal or for reporting any other matter. Hence, consumers are unable to get redressal of their grievances from sellers on such platforms
Due to lack of required information, a consumer is ill-informed about the product or service. Without any information of name, contact number and designation of grievance officer of seller, published on the platform, a consumer has no choice but to contact the marketplace e-commerce entity in case of any grievance.
Therefore CCPA has taken suo-moto cognizance of unfair trade practices involving sale of such goods to consumers. District Collectors of all states & UTs have been directed u/s 16 of CP Act to investigate unfair trade practices of selling such goods to consumers.CCPA has also written to DG, BIS to take up this issue on priority and notify all regional branches to conduct market surveillance and take immediate action.
