Layered on top of this is the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, and the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020, framed under it. These Rules distinguish marketplace entities, which merely host sellers, from inventory entities, which sell directly to consumers. That distinction was never intended to operate as an exemption from disclosure. Sellers operating on a marketplace are required to disclose the country of origin and the expiry date among other particulars, and the marketplace itself is obligated to ensure that this information is displayed clearly and accessibly. Where a marketplace fails to exercise this due diligence consistently, it risks losing the safe-harbour protection ordinarily available to intermediaries under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. A platform that actively ranks, recommends, and curates listings cannot simultaneously claim to be a passive conduit when it withholds the one disclosure that would materially affect a buyer’s decision.
