Thursday 21 December 2017

New norm for e-commerce firms to sale products kicks in from Jan 1

The government on Friday said all e-commerce entities will have to display the exact Maximum Retail Price (MRP) of their packaged products such as mobile phones, electronic goods and other consumer durables and non-durable items from January 1 both on the online platform and on the products as well.


They will also need to mention the name of the country where the products are manufactured or assembled. “The e-commerce companies will have to comply with the new rules. They are free to offer discounts. But the declarations have to be transparent for consumers to get the details,” consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on the sidelines of an event marking the National Consumers Day

A ministry official said these norms have been made mandatory after receiving complaints that some of the e-commerce companies don’t show the exact MRP while offering huge discounts to attract consumers. “There are cases of e-commerce companies in mobile phone sector not providing items such as earphone while selling their items. The MRP quoted on the website will have to be mentioned on the packets as well,” he added.



The consumer affairs department has brought in amendments to the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, which also bans the practice of dual MRP for the same product for all packaged items.


The companies can put barcode or QR code and e-code for net quantity assurance. They are also free to use government initiatives such as Swachh Bharat on the labels of their products.



“We had given have six months time to companies to put things in place. However, after getting representations from industries that they have huge inventories of old labels, we have allowed them to exhaust their stocks by March. The relaxation is only for them. E-commerce companies will have to follow the new norms from January 1,” said consumer affairs secretary AK Srivasatava.

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