Panel Discussion on E-Commerce at NLSIU
Suswagata Roy posted a report of this event in Cool Age on January 19, 2013.
E-Commerce in India has brought about a revolution and has changed the way businesses are conducted. In a short period of time, E-Commerce has seen tremendous growth and has been able to generate a market for itself. This definitely seems to be just the beginning and a bright future awaits it.
Given that E-Commerce is a hot topic and has already given rise to some pertinent legal issues, the Law and Technology Committee of National Law School of India University held a panel discussion on the same on 7th Jan, 2013 at 4 PM in the Training Centre, NLSIU Campus. The Panel, which consisted of Mr. Stephen Mathias (Partner, Kochhar and Co.), Mr. Pranesh Prakash (Policy Director, Centre for Internet and Society) and Mr. N. Vijayashankar (founder Chairman of Digital Society Foundation), focused on three issues in order to bring forth their key points.
The issues that were highlighted through the discussion were:
1. E-Commerce and Privacy: Privacy and the internet has been an important issue with which the legal community has been grappling for a long time. There are no specific legislations in India which protect privacy especially in relation to the internet. Protecting private and confidential information of the users is a primary concern of E-Commerce websites which also highlights the related issue of data protection. The customers' financial information is in special need of protection. While dealing with this issue questions like who is responsible for such protection, what data can be shared and what usage will it be put to use will have to be looked at? While dealing with privacy how the government will create a balance between protecting confidential information and providing information to the regulators to ensure no sham transactions, money laundering and tax evasion is being carried on needs to be addressed.
2. E-Commerce and its compatibility with other laws: the need for a separate Act:E-Commerce has definitely given rise to a new form of transaction. Thus, related laws such as law of contracts, law of evidence, taxation will all have to evolve to accommodate the new form of legal dealing. Contracts will have to evolve to validate such online transactions while law of evidence will have to evolve in order to sustain disputes based on such transactions. Many pertinent questions relating to intellectual property rights also arise especially in the area of copyrights. While minor amendments have been made to the Indian Evidence Act and to the Information Technology Act, they are not sufficient to handle this advanced method of conducting business. Moreover, the Information Technology Act is an enabling Act and this complicates matters even more. These issues give rise to the obvious question of needing a separate Act to regulate E-Commerce. An E-Commerce bill was drafted in 1998 which has never been given any attention and which may not be relevant anymore after the changes that technology has undergone over more than a decade.
3. E-Commerce and Cyber Crimes: E-Commerce has opened new avenues of dealing with consumers in the virtual world and thus, has opened new modes of proliferation of cyber crimes. It has resulted in an increased need to secure the laws in relation to fraud prevention, money laundering and phishing. It is imperative to look at the cyber laws in India and whether they are sufficient to deal with such issues in the wake of E-Commerce. How should the law deal with such issues and what regulatory compliances are required for E-Commerce websites in order to deal with these issues?
Thus, though E-Commerce is on the rise and is a welcome way of conducting business and has entranced many consumers, its effective utilizations and growth is viable only if a sturdy legal framework is in place. The panel discussion brought forth such issues and discussed the solutions for the same.
