NASSCOM Submission on adoption of Indian Standard on Online Consumer Reviews

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NASSCOM Submission on adoption of Indian Standard on Online Consumer Reviews

Garima Prakash

@GarimaP

September 27, 2022

Public Policy

220

The Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution is considering adoption of Indian standard based on the voluntary International Standard Organisation (ISO) standard 20488:2018, titled ‘Online Consumer Reviews — Principles and Requirements for their Collection, Moderation and Publication’ (the Standard). On September 21, 2022 NASSCOM submitted feedback on the approach and way forward in this regard.

Overall, our feedback highlighted that there is not enough justification to mandate the adoption of a voluntary standard. The intended objective of the government, i.e., to ensure that user reviews on websites are genuine and not manipulated, can be achieved by strengthening the Consumer Protection (e-Commerce) Rules, 2020 by:
1. Adding certain disclosure requirements, such as, disclosure of promoted reviews, indicate whether reviews are from users who have purchased the product/service, if reviews are incentivised.
2. Prohibiting certain activities such as, manipulating reviews, commissioning reviews and incentivising reviews (subject to certain conditions).
3. Adding an obligation on e-commerce entities and sellers to remove consumer reviews which they know to be fake.

We also highlighted several unintended consequences that can arise from a mandatory adoption of the Standard, especially on small sellers. Given that many of these sellers rely on software modules for managing user reviews, the non-availability of Standard-compliant software modules can be a problem. It can constrain the sellers in their ability to be compliant with the Standard or they may have to develop their own software modules. This may significantly add to their cost and distract them from focussing on the main activity, i.e., offering goods/services for sale.

We raised certain concerns with the content of the Standard and the problems faced due to the lack of flexibility in complying with a prescriptive standard. These included:
1. Obligations on actively assessing the content of the review for fraud.
2. Obligation to verify the identity of the user through certain prescribed methods only.
3. Ensuring the accuracy of a user review.
4. Verifying the genuineness of a consumer experience.
5. Publication of the date of consumer experience.
6. Adopting mechanisms to alert the seller in case of a new review etc.

We also gave suggestions with a view to make the Standard implementable on a voluntary basis.

Ultimately, we suggested the following approach to be adopted in case the government decides to go ahead with the adoption and implementation of the Standard:
1. The government should encourage the adoption of the standard on a voluntary basis. Entities adopting this standard may be encouraged to display that they are compliant with the standard. This may help in instilling confidence in potential buyers relying on the reviews published on that company’s website to make their purchase decision. This may organically encourage more players in the industry to be compliant with the Standard.
2. The government should monitor the state of compliance with the Consumer Protection (e-Commerce) Rules, 2020 as well as the voluntary adoption of the Standard for a period of, for example, 1 year. This period will give the industry and the government time to:
  - Evaluate the extent to which the industry is already compliant with the Standard.
  - Understand the availability of Standard-compliant software modules, especially for small sellers.
  - The various ways that may not currently be covered in the Standard but may be sufficient to achieve the desired objective of the Standard.
  - The need for changes in the user-review mechanisms and policies of the industry.
3. Post this, the government should, after consultation with all relevant stakeholders (including small sellers, SaaS companies providing the software module, e-commerce platforms etc.) evaluate:
  - The steps needed to further encourage the adoption of the Standard.
  - The need for revising the content of the Standard, in order to make it more flexible for the industry to comply with using the processes and methods they deem fit for achieving the intended objective.

For more information, kindly write to garima@nasscom.in.

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Garima Prakash

Manager, Public Policy and Government Affairs

Reach out to me for all things policy about e-commerce, international trade, export controls, start-ups and fintech