Government raps Amazon, Flipkart over Country of Origin details

The government issued notices to Amazon and Flipkart, which have just launched month-long festive season sales, asking them to explain in 15 days why action should not be taken against them for not displaying the country of origin on products they offer. The Department of Legal Metrology of the consumer affairs department said Flipkart and Amazon haven’t provided the mandatory declaration.
The companies did not respond to ET’s queries.
This violates “Section 18 (1) of the Legal Metrology Act 2009 read with and 6(10) of the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodity) Rules 2011, which is punishable under Section 36 (1) of the Legal Metrology Act, 2009,” it said. The punishment for the first offence is a fine of up to Rs 25,000. For repeated violations, the penalty is Rs 50,000 and/or imprisonment.
“Most of the etailers are following this rule. It has come to our notice that products sold on Amazon and Flipkart are not tagged with country of origin,” the notice said.