448 notices served to e-commerce entities for violations of declaration

As many as 448 notices were served to e-Commerce entities for violations of the declaration during the last one year and nine months and approx Rs 78 lakh penalty was charged from companies as compounding fees for violation of the declaration, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution informed on Wednesday.

The Union Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on Wednesday informed that the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules 2011 under the Legal Metrology Act, 2009 provides that an E-Commerce entity shall ensure that name and address of the manufacturer or packer or importer, maximum Retail Price (MRP), Country of Origin, Common or Generic name of the commodity, Net Quantity, Month and Year of manufacture, Customer Care details etc shall be displayed on the digital and electronic network used for e-commerce transactions.

This is to ensure that the consumer is taking an informed and conscious decision based on the declaration of the product on the E-Commerce platform, the Ministry said.

For violations of a declaration by e-commerce companies, 38 notices during the period of 16th October 2020 to 31st December 2020, 232 notices during the period 1st January 2021 to 31st December 2021 and 178 notices during the period 1st January 2022 to 11th July 2022 have been issued by the Legal Metrology Division, Department of Consumer Affairs.

And an amount of approximately Rs 77, 90,500 in the form of compounding fees has been realized from e-commerce companies.

State Governments are also empowered to take action in the cases of violation of the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities), Rules 2011, it added further.