CCPA Orders Amazon, Flipkart, Others To Delist Seat Belt Alarm Stopper Clips

The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has issued orders against Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Shopclues and Meesho for selling car seat belt alarm stopper clips in violation of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. Selling such products violates consumer rights and the act also comes under unfair trade practices, the ministry of consumer affairs said on Friday.

According to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules,1989, it is mandatory to wear seat belts. However, online sales of such items that compromise passengers’ safety by stopping the alarm beep when not wearing seat belts can be unsafe and dangerous to the life and safety of consumers, the ministry noted.

The issue of selling car seat belt alarm stopper clips was brought to the notice of CCPA by the Department of Consumer Affairs through a letter of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). The letter highlighted the issue of blatant sale of car seat belt alarm stopper clips and requested for action on errant vendors or online platforms and issuance of an advisory.

Based on the recommendation in an investigation report and submissions made by ecommerce players, CCPA has issued directions to the ecommerce platforms where they were asked to permanently delist all car seat belt alarm stopper clips and associated motor vehicle components.

They were also directed to apprise CCPA of the steps taken against errant sellers of such products and submit details of the sellers along with a compliance report on the above directions.

According to compliance reports submitted by all the five ecommerce entities, approximately 13,118 listings of car seat belt alarm stopper clips were delisted from the platforms. Ecommerce major Amazon accounted for 8,095 car seat belt alarm stopper clips, while Flipkart accounted for 4,000-5,000.

From time to time, CCPA has issued directions against sales of items that could impact buyers. For example, it issued notices to ecommerce majors last year for selling corrosive acids online. Further, earlier this year, the authority issued notices to ecommerce platforms Amazon, Flipkart, and Snapdeal for selling toys violating the country’s quality norms.

The consumer affairs ministry is becoming more stringent in ecommerce regulations as it is also reportedly working on making ecommerce companies liable for any fraud committed by sellers on their platforms by attaching “fallback liability” to their role as intermediaries.

Ecommerce platforms currently refuse to acknowledge any liability or responsibility or provide appropriate remedy to consumers, by referring to Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Under the upcoming ecommerce norms, the government might bring more responsibility to their role as intermediaries.