The government's preparation to submit the bill originated in the National Assembly to the winter session of the Parliament after the committee passed it unanimously
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The Industry and Commerce and Labor and Consumer Affairs Committee under the House of Representatives has passed a bill to regulate e-commerce businesses with a proposal to impose a prison sentence of 6 months to 3 years depending on the amount of the offense if the e-commerce businessmen do not fulfill their obligations or act in violation of their obligations.
The bill originated in the National Assembly was unanimously passed by the committee, and now the government is preparing to submit it in the winter session of the Parliament starting from January 18.
Businessmen, entrepreneurs and consumers strongly raised social networks to be recognized as e-commerce, different arrangements for small businesses, facilitation of the contract process between sellers and intermediaries have been improved and addressed in the bill. However, various provisions related to crimes and punishments, and especially the suggestion that prison sentences should be removed, remain unchanged in the bill. In the discussion of the committee on Sunday, some MPs expressed their opinion that it is not appropriate to put businessmen in jail. Abdul Khan, chairman of the committee, said that because the law will be made to establish the
status, the system of imprisonment will discourage crime. "When making this law, we have kept the punishment from 6 months to 3 years," he said. The law is also for convenience, it is also for establishing the status. As long as there is no fear, the crime will not be reduced. In case of doing electronic business without establishing an electronic platform, doing business without disclosing the details of goods or services and not fulfilling the obligations according to Section 14, 15, 16 of the
bill. It is mentioned that if you do, you will be considered to have committed an offence. Section 14 covers the obligations of intermediaries, section 15 lists-based e-commerce traders and section 16 of sellers.
Intermediaries such as Amazon, Daraz, Pathao should mention the details of the goods and services put up for sale in a way that the buyer can get them accurately and clearly, to discriminate between goods or services of the same category provided for different sellers on the platform or to give admissibility to a particular seller. Responsibilities are defined as non-existent.
If a warranty or guarantee is given for the goods or services sold, the obligation to comply with the terms of such warranty or guarantee is specified for the specified period. It is said that an agreement should be made with the seller who will provide the goods or services before putting them up for sale. Earlier written contract was mentioned in the bill, now it is proposed to recognize electronic contract. In the
bill, the definition of 'electronic platform' has been amended to give legal recognition to business through social media. "Electronic platform means a system made for the purpose of trading goods or services by using computers, mobiles or similar electronic devices through websites, applications, software, internet, intranet, social network marketplaces and other means to collect, transmit or store information," the definition says. .
Those doing business through social media marketplaces must be listed in the electronic portal to be established in the Department of Commerce under the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supply. In the bill passed by the committee, some provisions and clarity have been added to facilitate micro, small and medium entrepreneurs.
Small and medium businesses have been opened to use 'other platforms' without establishing their own electronic platform. By amending section 4 (1) of the bill, a provision has been added that small industries can do business through platforms established by others without establishing their own electronic platform.
In section 35, it has been arranged that the government can publish notices in the gazette and provide necessary discounts and concessions to micro, domestic and small industries that do business over the limit set by the ministry through electronic platforms or sell products produced in Nepal.
E-commerce entrepreneurs, businessmen and stakeholders have been raising various demands on this bill. They have been suggesting that e-commerce should be classified, business done through social media should be included, strict rules should be removed, even if entrepreneurs are jailed even for small mistakes. The
committee has defined middlemen and list-based e-businesses as 'businessmen' and middlemen and list-based e-businesses as 'seller'. The committee has also decided to add the word e-commerce to the name of the bill, saying that the earlier name of the bill was confused with electricity-related issues. Now the full name of this bill will be 'Electronic Commerce (E-Commerce) Bill 2080'.
Industry, Commerce and Supply Minister Damodar Bhandari said that the new bill is a matter of happiness. He opined that getting the new Act passed by the committee and the parliament is the capital of the committee and the government. He said that when many laws were made in the past, it was necessary to make new laws based on the review of whether they were timely or not. It will be submitted to the meeting of the House of Representatives along with the report of the bill passed by the Industry Committee. It will then be sent back to the National Assembly with the message after it is passed by the House.
