The Digital Commerce Operation Guideline 2021 could address many of the woes of the e-commerce sector

Digital commerce is becoming an emerging business sector. According to a recent industry study, the Bangladeshi business-to-customer e-commerce market is anticipated to increase by 17.61% annually, reaching Tk65,966 crore in 2022.

Since repeated calls for control have gone unanswered, Bangladesh's booming e-commerce sector has been plagued by a lack of oversight and transparency. This situation has persisted and recently there have been claims of financial fraud and embezzlement against a few platforms. There have also been concerns regarding a variety of topics that consumers and platforms routinely experience, such as product delivery time restrictions, complaints, and associated remedies.

The government has introduced the Digital Commerce Operation Guideline 2021 intending to preserve the rights of sellers and customers and address the needs of the developing e-commerce sector. This guideline defines some key terms, including "Marketplace," "Product," "Warranty," "Guarantee," "adulterated products," "counterfeit products," and "Digital Wallet," among others.

It is intended to boost employment through the development of digital businesses, safeguard consumer rights by bringing discipline to the marketplace, and foster the emergence of new entrepreneurs through the establishment of transparency and accountability in the digital commerce sector.

This guideline has also established some general guidelines and placed some restrictions, such as the following: it will be applicable to all digital commerce platforms; details of the product, price, and return policy must be stated in the website or marketplace; multi-level marketing or networking is prohibited; the sale of drugs is prohibited in the digital e-commerce platform.

To sell medicines and medical products, the e-commerce platform must obtain permission from the medicine administration authority; if the seller's website contains cookies, the buyer must be informed in advance; if personal data is stored during the course of buying and selling, the customer must be informed; and digital e-commerce cannot conduct lotteries or raffle draws without the authority's prior consent.

Furthermore, every digital e-commerce platform must have a trade licence, TIN, UBID/PRA and be shown in the market or on social media accounts, to establish transparency, and buyers cannot be forced to sell and buy any specific products. The marketplace owner must finalise their payment to the business owner within ten days after deducting the charges and commission. The buy-sell and return policies must be stated in Bangla. All papers pertaining to business transactions must be kept for at least six years. 

The most important aspect of the e-commerce sector is the delivery of the product and this guideline has provided some provisions such as, the product has to be delivered to the delivery agent within 48 hours of the payment. If the full payment is completed, then the product has to be delivered within five days and if the customer is outside of the city it has to be delivered within ten days and an insurance policy can be given.

With the growth of e-commerce, it is inevitable that disputes will arise. For this reason, this guideline has specifically introduced some provisions regarding complaints and remedies. This includes the requirement that complaints regarding the purchase and sale of any product be resolved within 72 hours of receiving them and there must be a rating system. In case of an unavoidable situation, the concerned department has to inform the customer within 48 hours and deliver the product within the next 72 hours.

If we analyse the whole guideline, we can see that the main purpose of this law is to boost the digital commerce sector by creating transparency and increasing employment opportunities. If we analyse some important features of this guideline, we can find that it has clarified the procedures regarding delivery and complaint systems in a faster and more efficient way. 

This law has also given more emphasis on establishing the Personal Retail Account (PRA) and Unique Business Identification Number (UBID). UBID is expected to be made mandatory gradually.

Samiul Azim is an associate of K&S Legal Consultancy, Dhaka, Bangladesh. 

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard