Central Consumer Protection Authority imposes Rs 10 lakh penalties on Amazon and Flipkart, Rs 5 lakh on JioMart for unregistered herbicide listings

Key facts

• The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) imposed penalties of Rs 10 lakh each on Amazon and Flipkart, and Rs 5 lakh on JioMart, for selling and advertising the unregistered agro-chemical product 'Cyclosinone Herbicide' on their platforms.
• In a separate order dated September 22, the CCPA directed the three e-commerce companies to immediately discontinue the sale and advertisement of the product and to submit compliance reports within 15 days.
• The Agriculture Ministry informed the CCPA that no chemical named 'Cyclosinone' is listed in the Schedule to the Insecticides Act, 1968, meaning its sale bypassed mandatory safety and quality checks.
• In its order against Amazon, the CCPA cited 38,410 orders involving 43,634 units with an aggregate sale value of Rs 96,42,572 as evidence of the scale of consumer exposure.
• The CCPA invoked Rule 4(3) of the E-Commerce Rules, which bars e-commerce entities from adopting unfair trade practices, and held that contractual arrangements with sellers cannot override statutory compliance obligations.