Notices issued to 102 online sellers for displaying wrong country of origin about products
New Delhi, Oct 26 (Bureau) In a crackdown on firms selling fake, spurious and counterfeit goods, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) issued 217 notices to sellers on e-commerce platforms for violating consumer protection rules and collected Rs 42.85 lakh from 76 companies in compounding of offences. Majority of the notices were sent to sellers of electronic appliances for displaying incorrect Country of Origin about the products. The other violations included charging more than MRP, non-declaration of MRP and non-standard units. As many as 202 notices were issued with regard to country of origin violations between October 16, 2020 and October 22, 2021. The Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodity) Rules mandate declaration of country of origin on e-commerce platforms.
The CCPA under Consumer Affairs Ministry took suo moto cognisance of the matter on the basis of complaints received from numerous consumers on the national consumer helpline portal. In a bid to make consumers more aware about their rights, the CCPA has now decided to initiate a country-wide campaign to prevent sale of spurious and counterfeit goods that violate quality control orders of the central government, Leena Nandan, Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs told reporters here. The daily use products identified for the purpose are helmets, pressure cooker and cooking gas cylinders.
The Department of Consumer Affairs has written to Chief Secretaries of all states & UTs to undertake enforcement drive in co-ordination with district collectors and commissioners of police to prevent sale and manufacture of goods violating compulsory standards. Under Section 2(47) of the Consumer Protection Act, unfair trade practice includes promoting the sale, use or supply of any goods which adopts any unfair method or unfair or deceptive practice by falsely representing that the goods are of a particular standard, quality, quantity, grade, composition, style or model.