The Central Government of India has established the standard uniform rules and regulations implemented on the metrology sector in India. In India, metrology is not gaining sufficient enough recognition that this sector needs to be accoladed with. There might be many reasons behind such problem maybe it was due to lack of formalized standard law, lack of awareness of legal and daily terms, and lack of knowledge amongst the citizens of the country related to their legal rights and duties towards the metrology sector. Metrology means the measurement of weights or measures. To overcome all such situations and give the metrology sector a solid hold and foundation, the Government of India in the year 2009 established a uniform act, Legal Metrology Act, 2009 and the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 decoding all the laws, rules, procedures and regulation related to the weights, measures, packaging, and labeling in India.
E-commerce entities have always played a dominant and important role in the legal metrology laws in India. Such e-commerce legal metrology seeing the current scenario all over the world arising due to pandemic has gained a multitude of diversity in the legal metrology in India. Since March 2020 our country has been facing a major health crisis due to the ongoing pandemic arising due to the outbreak of novel coronavirus in the country. From offices to shops to education every sector has adopted means of online mode to prevent further spread of the virus, thus aiming to save millions of lives. The concept of online mode has taken such a take-off in today’s generation that almost every other citizen of the country has gone online. The e-commerce sector has gained much popularity amongst every generation of the country. The sudden switch to online shopping and increase in online trade and commerce has set up a different benchmark for the upcoming generations in the country.
The Legal Metrology package labeling laws have explained the terms such as E-commerce, E-commerce entity, and marketplace-based model of e-commerce under Rule 2 (a) (bd), (be), and (bf) respectively of the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011. A marketplace e-commerce entity means an e-commerce entity that provides an information technology platform on a digital or electronic network for buyers and sellers to facilitate their transactions. The Ministry of Consumer Affairs has recently made certain changes to the e-commerce legal metrology rules in India and has stated that:
- No marketplace e-commerce entity is entitled to sell any goods owned by it.
- An E-commerce entity is not entitled to discriminate amongst consumers of the same class or make any discounts arbitrarily.
- No marketplace e-commerce entity is entitled to directly or indirectly license its brand to any third party.
- No e-commerce entity is entitled to use the same name or branding for any marketplace e-commerce entity or e-commerce store operating under such an e-commerce entity.
- Every e-commerce marketplace entity must publish their charges, terms, and conditions on the websites for all the sellers.
Conclusion
The government took this initiative to cut down on the multiple complaints arising related to the discounts and sales by the parties on the platform to ensure fair play of trade on the e-commerce platforms and safeguard the best interests of the public at large. The provisions and compliances related to legal metrology laws seem to be very complex and strenuous for most of the people in the country and especially when the world is opting for an online mode of services. No matter what generation you belong to every person needs expert advice and guidance and we at ELT Corporate aim at providing the best of services under e-commerce legal metrology laws to our clients all over India. Our online services can be accessed anytime from anywhere at the best affordable prices. ELT Corporate is one of the leading legal metrology consultants in India having years of professional experience in legal metrology and comprising of an experienced team of legal professionals in India.
