Common Sense Law

  Proposed Amendment to E-Commerce Rules, 2020 A Pinch of Salt & the Devil in the Details The Consumer Protection (e-Commerce) Rules, 2020 (the “ECR”) were framed and notified on 23-07-2020 under S.101(1)(zg) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (the “Act”). The legislative rationale for the same was that: “ the development of e-Commerce has rendered the consumer vulnerable to new forms of unfair trade and unethical business practices and also violation of personal data and information secrecy. Misleading advertisements, tele-marketing, multi-level marketing, direct selling and etailing pose new challenges to consumer protection. ” The ECR were framed to compliment the Act by regulating all e-Commerce activities and transactions. The ECR have sought to govern e-Commerce activities by laying down duties and liabilities to be adhered to by e-Commerce entities, marketplace e-Commerce entities, sellers on marketplace, and inventory e-Commerce entities. The Act defines ‘...

A Geographical Indication (GI) 1 is a notice of a specific product having been produced in a particular place. 2 Just as a Trademark (TM) they are indications as to source. GIs are in relation to goods originated or manufactured in a said territory where a given quality-reputation or other characteristic of such goods is attributable; this quality may be attributable to the specific environmental conditions 3 , the processes of manufacture, or for that matter the traditional knowledge that has developed over a massive number of experiential years. 4 Geographical indications are understood by consumers to denote the origin and the quality of products. Many of them have acquired valuable reputations which, if not adequately protected, may be misrepresented by dishonest commercial operators. False use of geographical indications by unauthorized parties is detrimental to consumers and legitimate producers. The former are deceived and led into believing to buy a genuine product wit...

ASCI – Influencer Ad Guidelines – Need for a Legal Binding Framework In recent times, we have witnessed the rise of Influencer Marketing as a very popular advertising medium. With its reach rooted in social media (such as YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, etc), it has proven a very effective new marketing frontier for almost all types of brands globally. It has thus posed a challenge for law to regulate, as it does involve the traditional advertiser and consumer, but in addition, it also involves the Influencer. This has necessitated a new and innovative set of rules of governance, more so from the point of view of both advertising businesses and consumers, since social media has blurred the line between fans / followers and consumers, and those between online social interactions and advertising. This has posed challenges to the understanding of consumer rights, and advertiser rights and obligations, in the backdrop of unfair trade practices (UTP) 1 and consu...