[‘Daily News Updates’ will provide you with a simplified understanding of the important economic/financial events across the country]
E-Commerce Rules to be Tightened
The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution has released the draft rules for introducing changes to the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 for regulating online retailers. These rules are in line with the rules released for ‘Social Media Intermediaries,’ dealt with in a previous edition of Daily News Updates, as they mandate “e-commerce companies to appoint a grievance officer, a chief compliance officer…” etc. The rules mandate new registration requirements for online retailers and a ban on ‘specific flash sales.’ [A ‘Flash Sale’ refers to a sale at heavily discounted prices for a pre-determined period]. The Ministry has clarified that only back-to-back flash sales or specific flash sales that increase prices limit consumer choice and prevent a level-playing field will be disallowed. [The move aims to protect offline retailers who find it difficult to compete against these sales].
The E-Commerce Rules were first notified in July 2020 and aimed at ensuring transparency about the product to allow consumers to make an informed decision. The new draft goes a step further in that it tries to prevent e-commerce companies from violating other laws as well. The rules also supplement the centre’s focus on domestic goods and propose that the “e-commerce firms should mention the name and details of any importer from whom it has purchased such goods or services.” Further, the rules propose that the related parties of the e-commerce entities cannot be listed as sellers’ [For instance, if Flipkart has a stake in a company, that company cannot be listed as a seller on its website]. This comes at a time when e-commerce entities like Flipkart and Amazon are being investigated by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for abusing their market dominance and giving preference to “sellers in which they hold indirect stakes.”
Highest number of Vaccines administered in a single day by India
The new vaccine policy (dealt with here) wherein the Central Government will procure 75% of the vaccines for all adults (who will be vaccinated for free) and provide them to the states, kicked in from yesterday. The first day was a massive success, as India administered over 80 lakh doses, the highest single-day number of doses administered in the world. The states ruled by BJP and its allies accounted for 70% of the total administered doses while opposition-ruled states such as Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Delhi struggled.
[Note– Daily News Updates has been irregular for the past few days. This will continue till the end of the this month because of unavoidable reasons. However, it will be back in full flow very soon. Keep reading and sharing these updates].
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