National e-commerce policy in final stages

New Delhi The proposed national e-commerce policy being formulated by the commerce and industry ministry is in the final stages and no new draft policy will be issued now for seeking views of stakeholders, a senior government official said.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) on August 2 held a detailed discussion with representatives of e-commerce firms and a domestic traders’ body on the proposed policy. In that meeting, a broad level of consensus emerged among the concerned stakeholders on the proposed policy. “Now no draft policy will come. That exercise is over now. We are just getting a final sign off,” the official, who did not wish to be named, said, adding there will be a presentation of the proposed policy at the top level of the government. On data localisation, the official said that the e-commerce companies would have to follow the law of the land. Earlier the ministry had issued two draft national e-commerce policies. The 2019 draft proposed to address six broad areas of the e-commerce ecosystem - data, infrastructure development, e-commerce marketplaces, regulatory issues, stimulating domestic digital economy and export promotion through e-commerce.

The draft had talked about a framework for restrictions on cross-border data flow; collection or processing of sensitive data locally and storing it abroad; measures to contain sale of counterfeit products, prohibited items and pirated content; and review of the current practice of not imposing custom duties on electronic transmissions in the light of the changing digital economy. Besides, it had suggested provisions on promoting exports through ecommerce; and developing capacity for data storage

in India.

The proposed policy would take into account the interests of all stakeholders, like investors, manufacturers, MSMEs, traders, retailers, startups and consumers. The government is also in the process of framing consumer protection rules for the sector.