The Ministry of Consumer Affairs of India has imposed a fine of INR 75,000 on e-commerce giant Amazon’s Indian unit for not displaying the ‘Country of Origin’ of the several products listed on the e-tailer’ website. This is the first time that government has fined an e-commerce platform under the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules which came into effect in 2018.
Last month the legal metrology department sent out notices to major Indian e-commerce giants such as Flipkart and Amazon India for violating the laws. According to TOI’s sources, the department has found two directors responsible for the violation of rules.
Amazon Fined ₹75,000 for not showing ‘country of origin’ on its product listings
The notice sent to Amazon Seller Services last week reads, “If you are willing to close the matter departmentally, you can compound the case as per section 48(1) of the Act on payment for credit to the government an amount of ₹25,000 each on behalf of each director plus ₹25,000 on behalf of the company.”
The company has got the time of 7 days to pay the fine and settle the matter out of court but if Amazon India, but if Amazon fails to pay the fine amount then the department will be ‘constrained to initiate’ the legal proceedings against Amazon India and all of their directors without any further notice.
Source: Times of India