Log in or register
Share on LinkedInShare on LinkedIn

ARTICLE · 02 JANUARY 2024

Consumer Protection Versus Protection Of Intermediaries, What Must Prevail?

S.S. Rana & Co.
S.S. Rana & Co.
Contributor
S.S. Rana & Co.

S.S. Rana & Co.

Established in 1989, S.S. Rana & Co. is a premier intellectual property and corporate law firm...

View firm profile
Explore more from S.S. Rana & Co.

A listing on an e-commerce portal, an order placed with the seller, a substandard product delivered with a delay and an inconsistent grievance redressal by the seller ...

IndiaConsumer Protection
Arpit Kalra
Arpit Kalra
Pranit Biswas
Pranit Biswas
Author LinkedIn connections

A listing on an e-commerce portal, an order placed with the seller, a substandard product delivered with a delay and an inconsistent grievance redressal by the seller – this cocktail was brought to court by the consumer at the North Goa District Consumer Forum, questioning the liabilities of the e-commerce website vis-a-vis the seller listed.

WHAT WENT DOWN?
(Summary of Facts)

– A consumer learns about a seller for a particular furniture product on an e-commerce portal;
– Upon contacting the seller through the information available on a separate e-commerce website (Amazon), the consumer sought for confirmation about whether the seller was an authorized dealer of a particular brand, and upon such confirmation, the consumer directly books an order with them and pays the seller through a payment doorway facilitated by another e-commerce portal (Indiamart) .

We operate a free-to-view policy, asking only that you register in order to read all of our content. Please login or register to view the rest of this article.

Register for freeORLog in

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

View source

Related Articles

Legal Intelligence Newsletters: sign up for the latest legal and regulatory news on your chosen topics

Read more about

Related Comparative Guides

See more popular content from

Article

Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) (Amendment) Rules, 2026: A Comprehensive Regulatory Overhaul Of India’s Digital Marketplace

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, acting through the Department of Consumer Affairs, has notified the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) (Amendment) Rules, 2026, vide Notification No. CG-DL-E-10092026-276125, published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 3, Sub-section (i), dated 9 September 2026.
IndiaConsumer Protection
IndiaLaw LLP
IndiaLaw LLP
Article

Rethinking E-Commerce Compliance: Key Changes Under The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) (Amendment) Rules, 2026

On September 9, 2026, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution (Department of Consumer Affairs) notified the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) (Amendment) Rules, 2026 (“Amendment Rules”), amending the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 (“E-Commerce Rules”). The Amendment Rules will come into force on January 1, 2027.
IndiaConsumer Protection
AZB & Partners
AZB & Partners
Article

CCPA’s Guidelines On Dark Patterns: An Overview

The visual interface of ecommerce platforms increasingly influences how consumers select, purchase, subscribe to and cancel goods and services. Before the issuance of a framework specifically addressing dark patterns, the Consumer Protection Act 2019 (“Consumer Protection Act”) and the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules 2020 (“E-Commerce Rules”) already prohibited unfair trade practices in e-commerce.
IndiaConsumer Protection
Tuli & Co
Tuli & Co
Article

Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Amendment Rules, 2026: Enhancing Transparency And Consumer Protection In E-Commerce

The Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Amendment Rules, 2026 introduce significant compliance obligations for e-commerce platforms, particularly regarding the disclosure of Country of Origin and other product information. This article analyses the key amendments, their implications for manufacturers, importers, and online marketplaces, and the broader objectives of strengthening consumer protection in the digital marketplace.
IndiaConsumer Protection
Khurana & Khurana, Advocates and IP Attorneys
Khurana & Khurana, Advocates and IP Attorneys
Article

Indian FSSAI’s New Labelling Rules 2026

India's food safety regulator has introduced new labelling amendments that simplify compliance for infant nutrition products and small packages while strengthening traceability requirements for non-retail containers. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is pushing for front-of-pack warning labels on products high in fat, sugar, and salt, raising critical questions about implementation thresholds, consumer accessibility, and the balance between public health and industry concerns.
IndiaConsumer Protection
Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance (GALA)
Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance (GALA)
Article

Front-of-Pack Labelling In India: Supreme Court Examines FSSAI’s Proposed Framework

India's Supreme Court is examining the food regulator's proposed front-of-pack labelling framework for packaged foods, which would require red hexagonal warnings on products exceeding specified levels of sugar, salt and fat. The Court has raised critical questions about nutrient thresholds, label design, implementation timelines and practical implications for food businesses, while the final requirements remain subject to judicial determination and subsequent regulatory process.
IndiaConsumer Protection
Lexplosion Solutions Private Limited
Lexplosion Solutions Private Limited
Article

Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) (Amendment) Rules, 2026: Recalibrating E-Commerce Compliance Across The Indian Data Privacy Framework

The Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India, has amended the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 through the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) (Amendment) Rules, 2026, with the objective of strengthening consumer protection while facilitating a transparent and balanced regulatory framework for the e-commerce sector.
IndiaConsumer Protection
S.S. Rana & Co.
S.S. Rana & Co.
Article

India’s New E-Commerce Rules: What The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) (Amendment) Rules, 2026 Mean For Platforms, Marketplaces And Sellers In India

For most of the last decade, e-commerce compliance in India has been a question of what a platform says: the disclosures on a product page, the terms in a policy, the identity of a seller. The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) (Amendment) Rules, 2026 change the question. They reach into how a platform is built and how it behaves, its ranking logic, its discount displays, its interface design and its use of consumer data, and make those matters of compliance rather than of commercial discretion. Notified on 9 September 2026 and effective from 1 January 2027, the amendments give businesses a defined, and short, runway to adapt.
IndiaConsumer Protection
S.S. Rana & Co.
S.S. Rana & Co.
Article

Use Of Artificial Intelligence (AI) In Courts

On June 3, 2026, the Supreme Court of India’s AI Committee released preliminary draft of the Regulations for Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Courts, 2026 (“The Draft”). This marks a shift from scattered experiments with AI tools for translation, transcription, research and case management. With over 93,000 pending matters as of March 2026, the guidelines aim to ease processes for officials and citizens. AI could help reduce backlogs through automated cause-list preparation, transcription, research, and defect scrutiny, but its use also raises serious concerns.
IndiaTechnology
S.S. Rana & Co.
S.S. Rana & Co.
Article

Copy, Right? ANI Media Pvt. Ltd. v. Open AI OpCo LLC

When an artificial intelligence system is trained on copyrighted news content, and later answers a user’s question using what it learned, has the law been broken? On 24th July 2026, the Delhi High Court answered that question, at least for now. In ANI Media Pvt. Ltd. v. Open AI OpCo LLC, Justice Amit Bansal declined to grant an interim injunction against OpenAI, holding, on a prima facie, interim stage view, that the company’s use of ANI’s news content to train its large language models (“LLMs”) falls within the fair dealing exception under Section 52(1)(a) of the Copyright Act, 1957
IndiaIntellectual Property
S.S. Rana & Co.
S.S. Rana & Co.
Article

FSSAI Raises Turnover Limits For Food Business Registration And Licensing

The change is effected through two instruments: the Food Safety and Standards (Licensing and Registration of Food Businesses) Amendment Regulations, 2026, notified via gazette on 10th March, 2026[1] (the “Amendment Regulations”), and a subsequent implementation order dated 13th March, 2026[2] (the “Order”) issued by FSSAI directing all licensing authorities to apply the revised thresholds with effect from 1st April, 2026.
IndiaFood, Drugs, Healthcare, Life Sciences
S.S. Rana & Co.
S.S. Rana & Co.
Article

CERT-In’s New AI-Vulnerability Guidelines: A Quick-Reference For OEMs, Tech Vendors And In-House Counsel

Cybersecurity regulation in India has, until now, largely spoken to the entity that suffers the breach. The 2022 CERT-In Directions issued under Section 70B of the Information Technology Act, 2000 fixed a six-hour reporting clock on the organisation that detects an incident. The new Guidelines flip the lens onto the entity upstream of that breach, the OEM or technology provider that built the product in the first place. For the first time, vendors supplying software, firmware, cloud platforms, or APIs into India carry direct, time-bound, and independently verifiable obligations of their own and not obligations that are merely passed through a customer contract, but obligations CERT-In itself may enforce.
IndiaTechnology
S.S. Rana & Co.
S.S. Rana & Co.
Article

Is Meta Still Just An Intermediary? Why India Is Rethinking Safe Harbour

In mid-September 2026, government sources said Meta Platforms’ Indian operations, Facebook, Instagram and Threads, should no longer be viewed merely as an “internet intermediary” but should also be treated as a “service provider,” arguing that the company’s monetised algorithms actively decide what content gets amplified, distributed and shown to whom. That is a government position, not a new statutory classification, and this article returns to that distinction below.
IndiaMedia, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment
S.S. Rana & Co.
S.S. Rana & Co.
Article

Understanding The 50% Wage Rule Under The Code On Wages, 2019: A Cap On Exclusions, Not A Ceiling On Wages

India’s new labour code framework, comprising four consolidated codes enacted between 2019 and 2020, represents the most comprehensive overhaul of employment laws since independence. Among these, the Code on Wages, 2019 (hereinafter referred to as the “Code”) amalgamates the Payment of Wages Act, 1936; the Minimum Wages Act, 1948; the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965; and the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976, into a single, unified enactment.
IndiaEmployment and HR
S.S. Rana & Co.
S.S. Rana & Co.
Article

Mandatory Affidavit In Bail Applications: The Supreme Court’s Zeba Khan Framework And The Bombay High Court Circular In India

Bail is decided at speed and on incomplete information, and the system has long struggled with a recurring problem: an applicant who does not disclose, or who actively suppresses, facts that bear on whether bail should be granted, from a string of earlier rejected bail pleas to a history of antecedents. The Supreme Court’s recent intervention addresses that problem directly, by requiring the material particulars to be placed before the court on oath.
IndiaCorporate/Commercial Law
S.S. Rana & Co.
S.S. Rana & Co.