The GOI is negotiating with eCommerce companies to ensure that all products listed on their apps and websites carry the country of origin ta, as part of India’s strategy to curb foreign imports, specifically from China, and support domestic businesses.
In a move to support the government’s self-reliant initiative, Amazon recently announced that all of the sellers listed on its portal will have to disclose the country of origin latest by 10th August 2020.
Amazon sent an email to the sellers regarding the same. The ‘country of origin’ will be introduced as a mandatory attribute from July 21. “You will be required to provide information for country of origin mandatorily for all your new and existing listings,” it said. “Failure to provide information in the country of origin attributed to August 10, 2020, may lead to enforcement action including suppression of your listing.” It further warned the sellers to suspend their listing if they fail to comply.
The decision prevents any government action to set a deadline for sellers as well as eCommerce marketplaces to comply with the country of origin rule. The GOI is negotiating with eCommerce companies to ensure that all products listed on their apps and websites carry the country of origin tag, as part of India’s strategy to curb foreign imports, specifically from China, and support domestic businesses.
Apart from the 50 million sellers listen with Amazon, the mandate is also applicable to Cloudtail India and Appario Retail, in whose holding companies Amazon has a significant minority stake.
Rival Flipkart has since 2018 given sellers an option to disclose the country of origin information although it has not yet made it mandatory. Ecommerce platform Snapdeal also reached out to its sellers on June 30 bringing their attention to the requirement, however, no deadline has been specified. “As part of the listing process, Snapdeal already provides a field for sellers of imported products to mention Country of Origin. We are also in the process of conducting an outreach program with our sellers in order to facilitate expeditious compliance with this requirement,” a Snapdeal spokesperson said.
Furthermore, Amazon’s portal for seller information, Amazon Central Station, has been updated with its new mandate.
