E-COMMERCE RULES

1.1 All e-commerce entities shall comply with the provisions of the E-Commerce Rules which includes the following compliances:

(a) Appoint a nodal officer or an alternate senior designated functionary who is resident in India;

(b) provide the following information in a clear and accessible manner on its platform - (i) legal name of the e-commerce entity; (ii) principal geographic address of its headquarters and all branches; (iii) name and details of its website; and (iv) contact details like e-mail address, fax, landline and mobile numbers of customer care as well as of grievance officer;

(c) establish an adequate grievance redressal mechanism and shall appoint a grievance officer for consumer grievance redressal, and shall display the name, contact details, and designation of such officer on its platform. The grievance officer should acknowledge the receipt of any consumer complaint within 48 hours and redresses the complaint within 1 month;

(d) if an e-commerce entity offers imported goods or services for sale, it shall mention the name and details of any importer from whom it has purchased such goods or services, or who may be a seller on its platform;

(e) not impose cancellation charges on consumers cancelling after confirming purchase unless similar charges are also borne by the e-commerce entity;

(f) record the manual consent of a consumer for the purchase of any good or service; and

(g) effect all payments towards accepted refund requests of the consumers as prescribed.

1.2 All marketplace e-commerce entities shall comply with the provisions of the E-Commerce Rules which includes the following compliances:

(a) require sellers through an undertaking to ensure that descriptions, images, and other content pertaining to goods or services on their platform is accurate and corresponds directly with the appearance, nature, quality, purpose and other general features of such good or service;

(b) include in its terms and conditions generally governing its relationship with sellers on its platform, a description of any differentiated treatment which it gives or might give between goods or services or sellers of the same category;

(c) take reasonable efforts to maintain a record of relevant information allowing for the identification of all sellers who have repeatedly offered goods or services that have previously been removed or access to which has previously been disabled under the Copyright Act, 1957 (14 of 1957), the Trade Marks Act, 1999 (47 of 1999) or the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000);

(d) display of all contractual information required to be disclosed by law, mandatory notices, expiry date, details of goods / services along with its sellers and country of origin, name and details of importer, information related to exchange, returns and refund, details related to delivery, relevant warranties / guarantees, mode of payment, grievance redressal mechanism, procedure to cancel payments, any fees or charges, contact information of payment service provider and all information provided to it by sellers;

(e) display the details about the sellers offering goods and services, including the name of their business, whether registered or not, their geographic address, customer care number, any rating;

(f) display a ticket number for each complaint lodged through which the consumer can track the status of the complaint; and

(g) display an explanation of the main parameters which, individually or collectively, are most significant in determining the ranking of goods or sellers on its platform and the relative importance of those main parameters through an easily and publicly available description drafted in plain language.

1.3 All inventory e-commerce entities shall comply with the provisions of the E-Commerce Rules which includes the following compliances:

(a) refrain from falsely representing itself as a consumer;

(b) refrain from refusing to take back goods, or withdraw or discontinue services purchased or agreed to be purchased, or refuse to refund consideration, if paid, if such goods or services are defective, deficient spurious, or if such goods or services are delivered late from the stated delivery schedule;

(c) display of all contractual information required to be disclosed by law, mandatory notices, expiry date, details of goods / services along with its sellers and country of origin, name and details of importer, information related to exchange, returns and refund, details related to delivery, relevant warranties / guarantees, mode of payment, grievance redressal mechanism, procedure to cancel payments, any fees or charges, and contact information of payment service provider;

(d) display total price in single figure of any good or service along with the breakup price, showing all the compulsory and voluntary charges, and applicable tax; and

(e) a ticket number for each complaint lodged, through which the consumer can track the status of their complaint.

1.4 All sellers on a marketplace e-commerce entity shall comply with the provisions of the E-Commerce Rules which includes the following compliances:

(a) No such seller shall falsely represent itself as a consumer and post reviews;

(b) No seller offering goods or services shall refuse to take back goods, or withdraw or discontinue services purchased or agreed to be purchased, or refuse to refund consideration, if paid, if such goods or services are defective, deficient or spurious, or if such goods or services are delivered late from the stated delivery schedule;

(c) have a prior written contract with the respective e-commerce entity in order to undertake or solicit such sale or offer. Further, all the information pertaining to the seller (like legal name, address, GSTIN, PAN details, website etc) shall be provided by it to the e-commerce entity;

(d) appoint a grievance officer for consumer grievance redressal and ensure that the grievance officer acknowledges the receipt of any consumer complaint within forty-eight hours and redresses the complaint within one month from the date of receipt of the complaint;

(e) display all contractual information required to be disclosed by law, mandatory notices, expiry date, details of goods / services along with its sellers and country of origin, name and details of importer, information related to exchange, returns and refund, details related to delivery and relevant warranties / guarantees;

(f) display total price in single figure of any good or service, along with the breakup price, showing all the compulsory and voluntary charges and applicable tax; and

(g) the name and contact numbers, and designation of the grievance officer.