Analysing India’s draft E-Commerce policy

Government of India recently released the draft ‘National E-commerce Policy’ on 23^rd February 2019, with the stated objectives of regulating e-commerce transactions and cross-border data flows (the draft policy can be accessed on this link). While the policy is indeed a step in the right direction, certain issues require further deliberation, such as:

– Ascertaining the scope of the policy with regard to the type of transactions and data that is sought to be regulated

– Overarching control sought to be exercised over cross-border flow of data

– Mandatory registration and operation

– Stringent IPR requirements

The government has invited comments on the draft policy by 29^th March, 2019. To this end, ELP has created a whitepaper (attached along with) analyzing the draft policy from two core perspectives:

(a) potential impact on business from the standpoint of progressive policy building based on multilateral principles and

(b) an examination of the policy through the lens of anti-trust law.