Ensure that e-commerce websites display MRP, country of origin of products: Delhi High Court to Centre

The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked the Central government to come up with a mechanism to conduct regular checks on e-commerce sites so as to ensure their compliance with various Indian laws [Ajay Kumar Singh v. Union of India and Ors]..A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Navin Chawla called upon the Centre to see whether the products sold on these e-commerce sites have details regarding packaging, maximum retail price (MRP) and country of origin.The Centre was given six weeks to file its status report and the case was listed for further hearing on November 24..The Court was dealing with a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by one Ajay Kumar Singh through Advocates Rajesh K Pandit and Ankur Gosaid seeking directions to the Centre to ensure that e-commerce websites comply with the Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules, 2020 and the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodity) Rules, 2011.During the course of the hearing, the Court was told by the counsel appearing for the Centre that an inquiry was conducted and sample analysis has been done by the Quality Council of India (QCI) which revealed that 85 e-commerce websites were not complying with the Legal Metrology Rules, and 23 were in compliance.It was further stated that till now, notices have been issued to 152 companies for non-declaration of country of origin of products sold on their websites. Of these, 33 have compounded, and 9 have either given a declaration or closed their business.The counsel added that if the companies do not compound, they will be booked for criminal offences..However, the Bench noted that from the report, it appeared that the government is yet to put in place a mechanism to conduct regular and periodic checks on e-commerce sites. It, therefore, asked it to examine the aspect and place before the Court the mechanism for the same.