The government's entity ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) is in the process of framing rules with regard to protection of personal information and grievance resolution for buyers, sellers and gateways operating through its network. A set of rules on protection of personal information and setting up of grievance resolution mechanisms would be part of the comprehensive ONDC network policy, according to a consultation paper released by ONDC on Thursday.
The policy, which includes different chapters, has already framed rules on issues like branding guidelines, code of conduct and ethics, business rules, and onboarding and certification requirements. "Chapters which are under development" in the policy include issue and grievance management policy, network governance data policy, network technology governance, and termination and suspension policy.
The chapter on network data governance policy would lay "down the obligations of network participants with respect to protection of personal information", it said, adding that the chapter on grievance management would frame mechanisms for the participants to manage and resolve grievances filed against them by buyers and sellers. It would also lay down the process for escalation of unresolved grievances and ONDC's online dispute resolution mechanism.
Work is also going on to detail the process that will be followed for any disciplinary action that may be taken against a participant for any breach of the network participant agreement or the policy. It also said that the policy is being developed and will be managed through a participatory process which will take on board inputs from all key stakeholders.
ONDC, a non-profit company, formulates a set of standards for voluntary adoption by sellers or logistics providers or payments gateway operators. The ONDC will require an undertaking from each participant at the time of onboarding that it will comply with the policy in its entirety.
Compliance with the policy (like fairness in listing search results, privacy protection, resolving issues within prescribed timelines) will be tested once the participant starts conducting regular transactions on the network, typically one-three months after the completion of onboarding process. "The consequences of non-compliance may range from a simple warning to termination of the network participant agreement, which means a complete ban from the network. For breaches that are serious but do not warrant a termination, the network participant may be suspended for a limited period," it added.
All decisions related to any disciplinary action will follow the due process laid out in the policy, and will be conducted by an independent disciplinary body composed of experts in e-commerce and trade, persons with adequate knowledge of the law (such as eminent advocates and retired judges), retired government officers with a technical background, and one representative of ONDC. The ONDC initiative is aimed at curbing the dominance of large multinational e-commerce players, which control more than half of the country's e-commerce trading, limit access to the market, and give preferential treatment to certain sellers and squeeze supplier margins.
ONDC is conducting a public consultation on building trust in the network. The consultation paper has enlisted steps that ONDC is taking in this regard and lists some questions for respondents to frame their responses. The last date for submitting responses is October 31.
"The goal of this paper is to invite feedback on how ONDC can improve trust in the ONDC network," the paper said. In order to formalise a mechanism to involve participants and other stakeholders in the governance and evolution of the network (beyond consultations), the paper said, ONDC will constitute a 'user council' consisting of representatives of the participants and members of civil society.
The council will regularly review existing policies and processes and advise on changes/amendments; and provide guidance on instituting new policies and procedures. It said that ONDC uses three levers -- network policy, protocol specification, and transaction-level contract -- to ensure that the participants conform to a certain standard of good behaviour and to create binding contracts between parties.
The ONDC has taken several measures to foster trust at each stage, including during search and discovery of products, placing an order and payments. The paper has invited suggestions on various issues, including search and discovery; placing an order; fulfilment of orders; payment and settlement; returns, refunds and cancellations; issue and grievance management; and enforcement and compliance framework.
On the issue of placing an order, the ONDC mandates the seller app to report accurate and complete information. "First, seller apps have to ensure that the product description is accurate and complete. Second, they have to ensure that the terms and conditions for returns/ refunds/ cancellations are clearly declared. Third, they have to clearly specify the price declared by the seller (which cannot be greater than the MRP), separate from any other charges such as convenience fees, packing charges," it added.
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