Govt planning national e-commerce regulator

National Regulator for Electronic Commerce, Mandatory Data Location and Taxes for Data Centers are part of upcoming legislation governing all aspects of electronic commerce in the world. country, the project of a national policy has shown.The national policy framework in this regard, prepared by a working group led by Secretary of Commerce Rita Teaotia, was discussed Monday by a think tank, led by The Minister of Industry, Suresh Prabhu, set up for this purpose, will be further refined before being sent for interdepartmental consultations.

The Government Effo Develop a consensus on an e-commerce policy Tiger the political vacuum on key issues related to the sector and respond effectively to a proposal for multilateral discipline in e-commerce at the World Trade Organization (WTO), as different ministries have conflicting views on this.

Although the e-commerce policy project strongly recommended the location of the data, he suggested a two-year postponement period for the industry to adjust before the rulemaking of location become mandatory. He also suggested direct and indirect tax incentives as well as granting an infrastructure status to data centers to encourage storage of domestic data.

The move will help private sector companies comply with the standards set by the Srikrishna Committee on Data Localization. The 10-member expert group led by former Supreme Court Justice BN Srikrishna, who submitted the bill entitled The 2018 Bill on the Protection of Personal Data, to the Ministry of Justice. 39; Information and Technology (MeitY) on Friday forces companies to store a copy of the personal data of a user in the country.

"It is a very encouraging step to give time to the domestic industry to accept the data storage procedures before imposing legislation. carefully consider which companies are actually qualified for this, "said Amber Sinha, lawyer and senior program director at the Center for Internet and Society (CIS), a Bangalore-based think tank.

Trade policy and the Srikrishna group suggested that the government would have access to data stored in India for purposes of national security and public policy subject to privacy and consent rules

. The e-commerce policy recommends allowing them to follow inventory-based models to sell locally produced goods through an online platform.

Such companies may also be allowed up to 49% foreign investment. At present, e-commerce platforms can only follow the market model in which 100% FDI is allowed. However, the government has so far allowed no FDI in stock-based models.

In what could be worrying e-commerce companies, the draft policy recommends that the Competition Commission of India consider appropriately changing the thresholds of distortion of competition. Mergers and acquisitions below the existing threshold are also compulsorily reviewed by the latter in the case of e-commerce entities. "For such entities, thresholds based on other variables (such as access to data) that would be more relevant in this area would be considered," he adds.

The working group also recommends that the tax on goods and services) procedures for electronic commerce be simplified by allowing centralized registration instead of local registration. "The relevant GST provisions would be amended to create a level playing field between the on-line and off-line delivery of goods and services for GST purposes," he added.

Currently, MSMEs with an annual income of less than 20 ¢ lakh are not subject to GST if they sell offline while they have to pay GST if they sell goods on online platforms.

[email protected] [19659015] Shrutika Verma contributed to this story.