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The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), an apex body representing traders across the country, has welcomed US President Donald Trump’s move to release new rules to curb the sales of counterfeit and pirated goods on e-commerce platforms.
The new US strategy is to shift the liability for counterfeit goods from third parties to e-commerce platforms. This is in response to an April 2019 presidential memo in which Trump had instructed the Department of Homeland Security to compose a report in conjunction with the Commerce Department, the Attorney General and other federal agencies, with recommendations for combating counterfeit goods in the American marketplace within 210 days.
Onus on e-commerce sites
The new recommendations published by the US Department of Homeland Security puts the onus of policing counterfeit goods on e-commerce hubs like Amazon, eBay and Alibaba.
“This evidently shows that e-commerce platforms are not only engaging in malpractices but are also promoting counterfeit and pirated goods, and even in their home country, the US, the Trump government has taken cognizance of such a matter. Now, CAIT will also ask the Government of India to bring in such a policy for the Indian e-commerce market,” said CAIT National Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal.
Delegation to meet Goyal
He said a CAIT delegation will meet Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal at the Traders’ Conference today at 3.30 pm at Kedar Nath Sahani Auditorium, Delhi. While drawing his attention to the US policy recommendations, it will also urge him to implement a similar policy in India.
According to the Global Brand Counterfeiting Report, global sales of counterfeits are growing at 15 per cent per annum and is estimated to touch $1.82 trillion in 2020. The share of e-commerce is stated to be 25 per cent of this number.
Khandelwal said the National E-commerce Policy, which is expected to be announced by June, should address the problem of counterfeit goods. “If the US can take this action why can’t the Indian government take the same action to refurbish the image and nature of the Indian e-commerce market?” he asked.
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