Government mulling rules to make e-commerce platforms liable for sellers’ fraud

With a view to making e-commerce more accountable vis-a-vis fraud committed by sellers on such platforms, the Consumer Affairs Ministry is mulling relevant rules.

In this regard, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has sent a list of queries to such companies. Once the responses are given, pertinent rules will be enacted.

In simple terms, the ministry seeks to know what role these platforms play “as an intermediary,” a report by Economic Times noted.

E-commerce companies enjoy robust immunity through safe harbour provisions in Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000.