More BIS Raids At Amazon, Flipkart Warehouses

SUMMARY

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has now conducted another series of raids at the two ecommerce giants’ warehouses in two Tamil Nadu districts

While BIS confiscated products worth INR 36 Lakh from Amazon’s warehouse in Tiruvallur district, it seized hundreds of products from Flipkart’s warehouse in Tamil Nadu’s Thiruvallur district

Earlier this month, the bureau seized "thousands of products" from Amazon and Flipkart warehouses during raids spanning cities like Lucknow, Gurugram and Delhi

Days after carrying out search and seizure operations at premises linked to Amazon and Flipkart, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has now conducted another series of raids at the two ecommerce giants’ warehouses in two Tamil Nadu districts.

Raid At Amazon Warehouse: A team of officials from BIS Chennai conducted a search and seizure operation yesterday at an Amazon Seller Services’ warehouse in Tiruvallur district in connection with suspected violations of certification norms.

The operation saw the bureau confiscate 3,376 products worth INR 36 Lakh. Besides, the BIS also said that it found violations of several quality control orders (QCOs) pertaining to flasks, water bottles, insulated food containers, fans and toys at the ecommerce major’s facility.

Raid At Flipkart Warehouse: Meanwhile, a BIS team also conducted an “enforcement search and seizure raid operation” yesterday at a Flipkart warehouse in Tamil Nadu’s Thiruvallur district.

Just like Amazon, the bureau also found the Walmart-backed ecommerce major in violation of the BIS Act, 2016 for storing and selling items without the BIS standard mark. The standards body also seized non-certified 286 baby diapers, 36 insulated hotpots and 36 water bottles at the Flipkart warehouse.

The head of BIS’ Chennai branch G Bhavani said that the bureau will initiate action against the two companies under the Act.

“The offence is punishable with imprisonment up to two years or a fine not less than INR 2 Lakhs but may extend up to ten times the value of goods or articles produced or sold or offered to be sold or affixed or applied with a Standard Mark or both as per Section 29 of BIS Act, 2016 for first Contravention,” added BIS in an official statement.

This marks the second instance of BIS cracking the whip on ecommerce majors for flouting certification norms this month. Earlier this month, the bureau seized “thousands of products” from Amazon and Flipkart warehouses during raids spanning cities like Lucknow, Gurugram and Delhi.

Notably, this is not the first time that Amazon and Flipkart have landed in the crosshairs of Indian regulators in recent times. Previously, it was reported that the Competition Commission of India (CCI) internally found the two ecommerce platforms guilty of violating competition laws by giving preference to certain sellers on their platforms.