Regulation Of E-Commerce – EU And India

Introduction:

Since global retail started focusing on buying and selling of goods and services over a network, primarily the internet, the term e-commerce grew to define the same. The evolution began since the growth of eBay in the 1990s. E-commerce essentially means electronic commerce- a term self-explanatory enough but also calls out for reflecting on the incidental privacy violations and antitrust issues that grew with it.

For goods and services to be accessed on this platform, data is transferred virtually, processed and stored by enterprises. Many countries have now passed regulations to restrict such data transfer owing to concerns regarding data privacy, national security and regulation of domestic markets. Utmost importance therein being given to personal and sensitive data of individuals. The main focus for laws has been to maintain a balance between protecting said data and stabilising healthy competition in market, and efficiently using it for economic development by facilitating cross-border data flow.

European Competition Commission Inquiry on E-commerce Sector:

The European Competition Commission in 2017 first launched an inquiry into the ecommerce sector based on its Digital Single Market strategy. The focus was primarily on recognising e-commerce practices that hinder competition in the market. The main findings were based on Consumer Goods, Digital Markets and ensuring no discrimination between consumers from and within EU countries.

One of the major steps was to prevent geo-blocking, which essentially means consumers can shop from cross border EU states which was earlier prohibited. The Commission further laid emphasis on scrutinising and enabling Selective Distributive arrangements only partially. Further, the interference of suppliers with final and fixed price was effectively seen as anticompetitive behaviour. However, price transparency was recognised as the basis of marketing strategies further protecting and fostering consumer interests.

A hint of restricting/banning price comparison tools that tracked a competitor's price which in turn added to anti-competitive behaviour to increase traffic. Further, stringent licensing practices were proposed to make it difficult for new online businesses to emerge.

The effect of this included sending compliance rules to various online retailers.

A recent investigation into practices by Guess, a fashion brand that restricted its authorised retailers to set their respective retail...

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