Confirming rumors, Amazon India has made it mandatory for sellers to reveal the ‘country of origin’, starting next week. The move is applicable to both new and existing product listings.
Sellers on Amazon India must add the detail as a mandatory attribute from the 21st of July. As per reports, this is in accordance with the Legal Metrology Act of 2009. The e-commerce giant has asked sellers to add country of origin to listings by the 10th of August.
In other words, the company is providing just three weeks of notice to sellers. If a seller fails to do so within the deadline, it will apparently lead to enforcement action that includes suppression of the listing.
“Please ensure that the information added by you is accurate and updated at all times, as you will be solely responsible to ensure accuracy. Failure to provide information in the country of origin attributed to August 10, 2020 may lead to enforcement action,” Amazon informed sellers.
Interestingly, the government seems to have not set a deadline for e-commerce companies to add details regarding the origin country of products. “If someone is deciding to become compliant with the rules before any deadline, there’s nothing wrong with that. But there has been no mandate with respect to this,” a senior government official told ET.
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), however, had asked e-commerce giants to add country of origin to new listings by August 1 and existing listings by October 1 last week.
All these developments are happening at a time when anti-China sentiments are prevalent in India, which urges people to boycott Chinese products and switch to homegrown alternatives.
