Legal\nMetrology Act 2009 contains a set of rules and protocols to maintain uniformity\nin all the instruments used for weighing and measuring. This is to regulate and\ncontrol the pre-packaged commodities by ensuring the net quantity contained\ntherein. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Buying\nand selling digital products, goods or services over a digital platform or\nelectronic network comes within the ambit of E-commerce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An\nE-commerce website falls under the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules\n2011, which means the E-commerce website should comply with the said rules.\nThese rules are applicable to the e-commerce marketplaces or e-commerce\ncompanies which only provide an online medium to facilitate the transactions\nbetween consumers and sellers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
All\npre-packed goods should have labels that would contain the following\ndeclarations: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These\ndeclarations would be visible only if the packaging were in the customer’s\nhand, which is not possible in the case of e-commerce. This is why the legal\nmetrology package labeling laws have been amended by the Government, and the\ne-commerce entity which falls under these laws must comply with the rules made\nfor them, and they will be liable for checks and investigations are done by the\nappropriate authority to ensure that the rules are being complied with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2017, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, food and public distribution have, made this amendment to bring the e-commerce website under the ambit of Legal Metrology Package labeling<\/strong>[1]<\/strong><\/a><\/sup> laws, i.e., Legal Metrology Act<\/strong><\/a> and the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n A\nnew sub-rule 4(10) under Rule 6<\/strong> of the Legal Metrology\n(Packaged Commodities) Rules has been added, which mandates all e-commerce\nentities to provide all the declarations about the commodity on their online\nportal. The commodity that will be unfit after a specific time period must\ndisplay ‘best before’ or ‘use by’ on the package. <\/p>\n\n\n\n According\nto Rule 6 sub-rule 4A, the manufacturer, packer, or importer should have the\nfollowing declarations, apart from mandatory declarations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The\namendment has made further changes such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Through\nthe amendment of Legal Metrology Package labeling laws, the correctness of\ndeclaration has been shifted to the manufacturer\/packer\/importer even in the\ncase of e-commerce on fulfilment of the following conditions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some\nof the other important mandates from the said amendment of Legal Metrology\nPackage labeling laws are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Non-compliance\nwith any of the mandates of Legal Metrology Package labeling laws by digital\nentities will attract penalties. However, there are certain commodities that\nare exempted from complying with such mandates:<\/p>\n\n\n\n On\n24 January 2021, a letter was issued by the National Secretary-General,<\/strong> Confederation\nof All India Traders (CAIT), <\/em><\/strong>to the Commerce and Consumer Affairs\nMinister alleging the non-compliance of Legal Metrology Package labeling laws\nby e-commerce in India, and no action has been taken against such entities by\nthe appropriate department. The focus of the letter was the amended Legal\nMetrology Package labeling laws and the transparency between customers and\nmanufacturers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Government has taken a protective step by covering e-commerce within the ambit of Legal Metrology Package labeling laws. E-commerce acts as an intermediary between the customers and the manufacturers of packaged commodities. An amendment has been passed by the Government to Legal Metrology Package labeling laws for enhancing the benefits of the customers of digital entities. There are certain declarations that are mandatory to be followed by the entities related to packaged commodities. However, the digital entities are not following the mandates, and thus the CAIT has issued a letter to the Hon’ble Minister of the concerned department.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\nNon-compliancewith Legal Metrology Package labeling laws by E-commerce<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Conclusion <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n