Amazon, Flipkart, and Indiamart have come in the eyes of Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for allegedly allowing the sale of “spurious, unapproved and adulterated” cosmetics on their platforms, along with some imported brands as well. All the three have been warned of penal actions if they failed to provide a suitable response within the time period of 10 days.
Drug inspectors made pan-India raids on October 5-6 in which they found that many indigenously manufactured cosmetics were being allowed sale on those e-commerce platforms without valid manufacturing license and were also said to have ingredients imported without submitting any registration certificates for them. Not only this, there were signs that some ingredients in the cosmetics were a part of the “negative list” of the BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards).
According to the Drug and Cosmetics Act, it is compulsory to get a registration certificate for the import of cosmetics into India, whereas for all the cosmetics manufactured in the country must possess a valid license for permitting their sale. Along with this, the cosmetics need to conform to the standards laid down by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and cannot have any ingredient which has been mentioned in its negative list. Any violation of this law would lead to penal actions, which would include punishments that can range from monetary fine to an imprisonment for selling such “unapproved and fake” products.
Also Read: Flipkart in Legal Trouble, Gets Legal Notice From Amway
Response from these e-commerce platforms
Although Amazon has replied instantly claiming that they would surely take stringent measures in the matter and not allow the sale of such fake cosmetics through their platform anymore.
An Amazon India spokesperson said,
Amazon.in, a third-party marketplace, has a high bar of customer experience and does take strict action against those who are selling illegal or fake products, in accordance with the due process of law, as and when such incidents are reported to us.
While there have been no reactions available from Flipkart and Indiamart who also received similar notices from DCGI.
Legal actions against Amazon, Flipkart & Indiamart
The DGCI has clearly mentioned about the charges that would be filed against the companies if they would not produce any response to the situation. They have been warned them of penal action for
offering for sale, sale, and distribution of spurious, adulterated cosmetics and cosmetics manufactured without a valid license in contravention of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.
DCGI S Eswara Reddy wrote in the notice,
In case, you fail to submit the reply within the stipulated period, it will be presumed that you have no reply to offer and an appropriate action as deemed fit will be initiated against you
