Centre Calls On Ecomm Players To Draft A ‘Safety Pledge’ To Cull The Sale Of Unsafe Goods

The Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) on Thursday (November 16) directed all major ecommerce platforms to take appropriate measures to curb the sale of unsafe goods. 

In a meeting chaired by consumer affairs secretary Rohit Kumar, officials called for framing guidelines to ensure only safe goods are sold on online marketplaces. As part of this, the department has constituted a panel for drafting the ‘Safety Pledge’. 

The committee will comprise representatives from all major ecommerce firms, consumer associations, industry bodies and National Law Universities. The panel has been tasked with submitting its report in two weeks.

The product safety pledge will aim to standardise product safety norms for all online marketplaces operating in India. The government is of the view that by signing the pledge the ecommerce platforms can also demonstrate their commitment towards safe purchase. 

“The proposed principles of the Safety Pledge for ecommerce platforms include detecting and preventing the sale of unsafe products, co-operating with statutory authorities responsible for product safety, raising consumer product safety awareness amongst third-party sellers and empowering consumers on product safety issues,” said the government in an official statement. 

The sale of safe goods is one of the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. ‘Consumer rights’ recognised under Section 2(9) of the Act include the right to be protected against the marketing of goods, products or services which are hazardous to life and property. 

For policy framing, the government directed platforms to refer to the implementation of such safety pledges by countries such as the EU, Japan, and Australia, among others. The consumer affairs department added it was actively collaborating with the European Commission to adopt best international practices to detect and prevent the sale of unsafe goods to consumers on ecommerce platforms.

The meeting was also attended by the representatives of industry bodies, consumer associations and legal experts.

This comes a couple of months after the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) issued a flurry of advisories to ecommerce platforms, barring them from manufacturing, selling or listing products that are dangerous to the lives of the consumers.