"The [Consumer Protection] Bill has nothing to say about [fake] goods sold on e-commerce websites like Amazon, Flipkart," said Congress MP Saptarishi Ulaka in Lok Sabha on July 30. The Bill was passed in Lok Sabha on July 30 and in Rajya Sabha on August 6. While debating the bill, MPs made a few points in both the houses, pointing out that the Bill failed to address consumers’ rights on e-commerce platforms. (See a copy of the Consumer Protection Bill, 2019) The Bill doesn’t address the sale of fake goods on e-commerce websites: Arguments made against the Bill “One of the biggest problems now is of fake goods. With the advent of e-commerce websites, there are a lot of fake goods being sold. This Bill has nothing to say about goods sold on e-commerce sites like Amazon, Flipkart, etc. When one orders for a mouse, after opening the packet only he finds that it is a fake product. These sites claim to be selling an Apple product but instead you get a fake product which is made in China. But the e-commerce sites are never responsible. They are just meant to be carriers of products. It has to be clearly defined as to what has to be done in such cases,” Ulaka said in the Lok Sabha. In the Rajya Sabha, senior Congressman KC Ramamurthy said that one of the main aims of the Bill was to regulate e-commerce in India. However, he said that increasing regulations on the sector…
