After India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj threatened consequences to Amazon over a carpet bearing the Indian flag listed on their Canadian website, the company scrambled to perform a global audit of its catalogue in all 14 countries where it operates, a response to an RTI application by MediaNama has revealed. In the response, the Ministry of External Affairs described the correspondence between the Indian government and Amazon in the days that followed Swaraj's threats on Twitter. Reuters earlier reported on a portion of this correspondence. Amazon declined to comment. What Amazon did after Sushma Swaraj's threats Here are the steps that Amazon told the Indian government that it had taken: i) On 11th January 2017, when the listing of the said products was brought to the attention of the Government of India, the matter was immediately taken up by the Ministry of External Affairs with Amazon's India office. ii) Our Embassy in Washington D.C., and our High Commission in Ottawa took up the matter strongly with the senior leadership in Amazon in their respective territories. iii) Within 24 hours, the listed products were taken down by Amazon. iv) The Ministry of External Affairs had instructed the leadership of Amazon India to strictly ensure compliance with the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950, Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 and Flag Code of India 2002. v) Amazon India in its representation to the Ministry of External Affairs expressed regret on the listing of the said products on the US…
