E-Commerce Rules 2020, A Boon Or A Bane?

Introduction:

Buying products off of an online marketplace or an e- commerce ecosystem might seem a bit daunting of a task especially after all the recent reports of scams and unfair trade practices that users of such platforms are falling prey to. In order to deal with such an issue, the Government had to take certain steps in order to protect the consumer from such malpractices and to reinstate their trust in such online ecosystems and to enable its care-free utilisation.

Keeping that in mind, the Consumer Protection (E- Commerce) Rules, 2020 ("Act") have been notified by The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution ("Ministry") on July 23, 2020, under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 ("Act"), with an intent to prevent unfair trade practices in e-commerce and to protect the interest of the consumers and to ensure that there is transparency in the e-commerce platforms and also to further strengthen the regulations that govern the same.