FHRAI submits curated list of suggestions to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs

FHRAI’s suggestions aim to cover the duties and responsibilities of sellers, of e-commerce entities as well as to protect the consumer and hotels and restaurants owners in case of deficiency in services.

India’s apex Hospitality Association - Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) has shared its suggestions on the proposed amendments to Consumer Protection (e-Commerce) Rules, 2020 to the office of the Joint Secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Anupam Mishra. 

Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, Vice President, FHRAI, said, "The Hospitality industry has been severely affected by unfair trade practices carried out by some of the e-commerce entities and FHRAI has been trying to find options to resolve the issues at various levels. In the recent past, widespread cheating and unfair trade practices have been observed in the e-Commerce ecosystem by the hospitality industry as well as by consumers. Keeping this in view, we request the Ministry of Consumer Affairs to amend the policies that will help in redressing such grievances and protect the interest of consumers."

He further added, "Besides, it will bring transparency to the e-Commerce ecosystem and further strengthen the regulatory. Our detailed recommendations relating to the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules not only protect the rights of our patrons but also safeguard hotels and restaurant owners. The suggestions include Fall back liability to ensure marketplace e-commerce entities act responsibly, to host legitimate accommodations based on local and central licenses and fees paid, no indulgence in overbooking of goods or services, scheme or discounts to be offered with the consent of the seller, transparency in charges levied to the customers, duties of sellers on marketplace among others."

The Association has pointed out that an e-commerce entity provides an information technology platform on a digital or electronic network to facilitate transactions between buyers and sellers and hence Online Travel Agency (OTA), Food Service Aggregators (FSA), Table Reservation Services, Event Ticketing Platforms and such entities should be listed under the market place e-commerce entity to avoid any disputes.

Surge pricing is another critical issue that was stopped for app-based cab operators, however, it is continued to be practiced by the FSAs. Other than this, on busy days when the FSAs are unable to service customers, instead of informing customers about their inability to provide the service, they choose to display the restaurant as unavailable. The restaurant, unfortunately, has no knowledge of this and the customer is misled into believing that the restaurant is closed for the day, which again is an unfair trade practice. On certain occasions we have dealt with complaints related to mishandling of packaged food or delay in food delivery due to deficiency in ridership services and in such cases sellers should not be made liable under the Act if the deficiency is on the part of the e-commerce entity or market place e-commerce entity. We request the Ministry to favourably consider the suggestions of the hospitality industry and amend the Consumer Protection (e-Commerce) Rules, 2020 for ensuring the rights and privileges of all stakeholders,” concludes Pradeep Shetty, Jt. Hon. Sec., FHRAI.



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