New Delhi, July 23: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce has dismissed e-commerce players’ argument that they have no control over the items sold on their platform, putting the onus on them to act as an intermediary in the resolution of complaints about substandard and counterfeit products on their platform.
Known as “fallback liability”, the draft e-commerce rules released last year held e-commerce marketplace responsible if a seller on its platform failed to deliver the goods or services ordered by a consumer “due to negligent conduct, omission or commission of any act by such seller”, causing loss to the consumer.
This became a contentious issue between the government and e-commerce players with the latter urging the government to omit this clause from the draft e-commerce rules. Marketplaces have always claimed that since inventory is not controlled by e-commerce companies, they should not be liable for any dispute with sellers and urged that sellers be included in the liability clause. The lack of consensus on the draft e-commerce rules has meant that the government is yet to take a final call on the matter despite several rounds of industry consultations.
“The committee feels that it will not be in the interest of customers to absolve e-commerce marketplaces of their responsibility in maintaining the quality and standard of goods sold on their platforms. The committee recommends that responsibility should be placed on the e-commerce marketplace and necessitate them to play an active role in the resolution of issues related to the delivery of sub-standard counterfeit products and services on their platforms and require them to act as the intermediary between the customers and sellers,” the standing committee said in its report titled ‘Promotion and Regulation of E-Commerce in India’ tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
Source: BS
