The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission of Hyderabad has held that an e-commerce platform is liable for the vendor not displaying the “country of origin” of the product.
According to the order of the Forum, the seller is obliged to provide information regarding the country of origin of the product and the e-commerce marketplace must ensure that necessary information is displayed so that the customer can make an informed choice under the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce Rules) 2020.
If there is any violation of the E-Commerce Rules, the e-commerce marketplace cannot invoke the “safe harbor” immunity available for intermediaries under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act.
Therefore, the consumer forum held Paytm(the e-commerce marketplace) and Uni One India Pvt Ltd (the vendor) liable for deficiency of service and pay compensation of Rs.15,000 to Advocate Baglekar Akash Kumar, the complainant in the case.
The complaint related to a Usha sewing machine purchased by Akash Kumar in August 2020 through Paytm for Rs.13,440. When the package was delivered, the complainant found out that the machine was made in Thailand. The manufacturer did not display the country of origin on the site as mandated under Rule 6(5)(d) of the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020.
Since no information was given, the complainant assumed that the product was made in India. The complainant submitted that he would not have purchased the sewing machine had the country of origin been mentioned on the online portal. Opposing the complaint, Paytm contended that it is an online marketplace that provides a platform for different sellers to sell their products and acts only as an intermediary to facilitate sale transactions between the sellers and buyers and has no direct involvement with the sale of the product.
Rejecting the arguments of Paytm, the Commission comprising Mrs.Uma Venkata Subba Lakshmi (President), Mrs.C Lakhsmi Prasanna (Member), and Mrs.Madhavi Sasanakota (Member) directed the Opposite Parties 1 and 2 are directed to comply with the Consumer Protection (ECommerce) Rules, 2020 in letter and spirit and issue corrective product information that came to question in the instant complaint.
“With the increasing popularity of E-commerce websites, E-commerce business in India has ushered a significant change in the shopping habits of consumers. When consumers decide to buy a product, they primarily rely on the information provided by companies in their product advertisements. However, this race to be on top has led to an increase in malpractices of false claims and concealing and misleading information. In the instant case, the act of not mentioning the country of origin on the product is nothing but the contravention of the relevant E-commerce rules,” the Commission said.
The Commission also directed the opposite parties to pay compensation of Rs. 15,000 for deficiency of service and adoption of unfair trade practices.
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