Context:

• Government has sent out a reminder to all e-commerce portals to ensure that the “country of origin” of the products being sold by them should be mentioned as part of mandatory declarations.
• The Ministry in its reminder invoked the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011.

Legal Metrology rules:

• These rules make it mandatory for all manufacturers to declare the package name and address of the manufacturer, common and generic name of commodity, net quantity, month and year of manufacturing, MRP and consumer care details.
• Addition in 2017 made it imperative for e-commerce websites such as Amazon, Flipkart to display these information along with “declaration of country of origin or manufacture or assembly” and a clear mention of expiry date.
• Penal provision includes penalty on first offense, high penalty on second offense and Jail term thereafter.

Recent development:

• Country of Origin tag has been made mandatory on GemPortal.
• Along with country of origin, Gem portal vendors also need to display the local content.
• Government will purchase items having more than 50% local content for tenders less than 200 crores.

Reference: https://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/e-commerce-portals-reminded-of-country-of-origin-directive/article32035685.ece#:~:text=These%20rules%20make%20it%20mandatory,MRP%20and%20consumer%20care%20details.

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