The Central Government on Wednesday submitted before the Delhi High Court that the declaration of the country of origin on pre-packaged commodities used for e-commerce transactions is required in case of imported products.
The Centre made the submission in an affidavit filed on a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking directions to mandate displaying the name of the manufacturing country on the products at e-commerce websites.
"The declaration of country of origin on the pre-packaged commodity or on the digital and electronic network used for e-commerce transactions is required in case of an imported product and if the product is manufactured indigenously, country of origin may not be mentioned on the product," the affidavit said.
The plea said that when a large number of Indian citizens intend to comply with the government's appeal to promote and buy Indian goods in order to strengthen the nation, it has become essential that the e-commerce websites conspicuously display the country of manufacturing/origin for all products sold through such platforms.
A division bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Prateek Jalan posted the matter for further hearing on September 2 after several other respondents sought time to file a reply in the matter.
