E-commerce players cannot be partial to any sellers

NEW DELHI: An e-Commerce operator operating in marketplace or hybrid mode shall manage its relationship with sellers on its platform in an agnostic manner and without being partial to any of its sellers.

This is laid out in the Draft E-commerce policy prepared by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

This National e-Commerce Policy is therein, not a fresh construct of government's ambitions but is a consolidated document for the continued vision of providing a level playing field to all stakeholders, including individual consumers, MSMEs, traders, artisans, start-ups, while pursuing a development agenda which addresses growth and reduces prevalent market distortions. This focus is important as retail trade has been complaining against it.

Meetings are underway to receive feedback on the policy. One on one interactions have been held with concerned Ministries/Departments, basis which the revised version of the policy has been prepared.

A meeting is underway on Saturday under chairmanship of Secretary, DPIIT to discuss the revised draft.

In this policy, e-commerce means the business activities of sale, marketing, distribution of goods or provision of services through the Internet or other information networks. The policy covers all modes of e-commerce; i.e., inventory, marketplace and hybrid model. This Policy is equally applicable to entities, natural and /or legal with foreign and domestic investments.

An e-Commerce operator can operate in any of the three modes of ecommerce. E-Commerce platforms shall ensure that they operate according to the extant and applicable legislation/rules for conduct of all such operations. E-Commerce platforms hosted by or on behalf of entities having foreign investment shall comply with Foreign Direct Investment Policy, which shall prevail in case of inconsistencies between the two policies.

An e-Commerce operator operating in marketplace or hybrid mode shall manage its relationship with sellers on its platform in an agnostic manner and without being partial to any of its sellers.

An e-Commerce operator functioning in market or hybrid mode shall ensure that information collected through platform is not used to obtain market advantage against sellers on its own platform.

Actions and things which cannot be done by the platform entities can also not be done by any of its associates and related parties. Government may, from time to time, notify parties which fall in the definition of associates and related parties.

Owing to the cross-cutting nature of e-Commerce, different laws and regulations across sectors govern the present e-Commerce activities, some of which are; Income Tax Act, 1961, Consumer Protection Act, 2019, Information Technology Act, 2000, Foreign Exchange Management Act, 2000, Competition Act, 2002, Payment And Settlement Systems Act 2007, Companies Act, 2013 and laws related to Goods and Services Tax etc. (IANS)

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