   
  
WT/GC/W/857  
 
9 December 2022  
(22-9195) Page: 1/5 
General Council  
19-20 December 2022  Original: English  
 
 
CONSUMER PROTECTION IN E -COMMERCE  
COMMUNICATION FROM INDIA  
The following communication, dated 8 December 2022, is being circulated at the request of the 
delegation of India.  
 
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1  INTRODUCTION  
1.1.  The rapid growth of Information and communications technology since the advent of the 
worldwide web (the internet) in 1991, has resulted in a significant rise in e -commerce transactions. 
In 2019, an estimated1 1.5 billion people, or 27 per cent of the world 's population aged  15 years 
and older, shopped online. This represented a 7 per cent increase over 2018. On the sales side, 
data2 for selected group of countries, which accounted for 65% of global B2C e -commerce in 2019, 
suggest that online retail sales as a share of total  retail sales jumped by 3 percentage points in 2020 
(from 16% to 19%) compared to a two percentage point rise between 2018 -2019. Notably, COVID -
19 generated an increase in demand3 for online ordering of physical goods due to quarantine 
restrictions impose d in many countries.  
1.2.  It has been widely acknowledged that e -commerce has brought many benefits to the 
consumers in the form of wider basket of goods and services at competitive prices, ease of 
transaction from the comfort of one 's home and more secure pay ment options. At the same time, it 
has also created several new challenges & issues for consumers, relating to misleading advertising, 
online payment security, unfair terms, data protection, and dispute resolution (Riefa 2009; 
UNCTAD2017a). The higher comp lexity of the online environment and its related risks present new 
and higher challenges to consumers which need to be jointly addressed by countries owing to the 
rapid growth of cross border e -commerce.  
2  CONSUMER PROTECTION & E -COMMERCE  
2.1.  The need to protect the interests and needs of consumers has been acknowledged universally. 
Consumers particularly in the Developing and the Least Developed Countries face imbalances in 
economic terms, educational levels a nd bargaining powers viz the sellers who are often better 
informed and have a stronger position relative to the consumers while conducting commercial 
transactions. Thus, Consumer Protection addresses4 disparities found in the consumer -supplier 
relationshi p, which include Bargaining power; Knowledge; and Resources.  
2.2.  The term e -commerce does not have a universally agreed definition. WTO 's Work Programme 
on Electronic Commerce5 defines "electronic commerce " as the production, distribution, marketing, 
 
1 The UNCTAD B2C e -commerce index 2020 . 
2 UNCTAD estimates of Global e -commerce 2019, and preliminary assessment of COVID -19 impact on 
online retail 2020 . 
3 UNCTAD. 2021. COVID -19 and e -commerce: a global review. https://unct ad.org/webflyer/covid -19-
andecommerce -global -review  
4 UN Manual on Consumer Protection . 
5 WTO General Council decision, WT/L/274 . WT/GC/W/857  
 
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  sale or  delivery of goods and services by electronic means. The OECD describes e -commerce6 as 
"the sale or purchase of goods or services, conducted over computer networks by methods 
specifically designed for the purpose of receiving or placing of orders ".  
2.3.  Against this backdrop, this submission highlights major issues related to Consumer Protection 
in E-Commerce to elicit comments and encourage discussion among Members on this important 
theme.  
3  CHALLENGES AND RECURRENT ISSUES IN CONSUMER PROTECTION IN E -COMME RCE  
3.1.  The UNCTAD questionnaire on Consumer -Protection in E -Commerce7, circulated to the 
consumer protection agencies around the world, lists out more than thirty broad e -commerce 
challenges/areas impacting consumers in developing countries, ranging from un ethical business 
practices, issues related to fulfilment of the transaction, security issues, data protection and privacy 
issues, weak/non -existent customer care, dispute redressal procedures to cite a few.  
3.2.  Literature on the subject lists consumer trust i n digital markets as one of the main challenges 
in the development of e -commerce. This is due to the fact that while there is usually limited 
interaction in the form of face -to-face contact between the buyer and seller in an online transaction, 
yet goods a nd services are purchased. Traditional shopping provides a social context that facilitates 
the transaction: It mostly involves a simultaneous exchange of goods and money, interactions with 
staff and "visual cues ", which permit the consumer to test the reta iler or suppliers ' professionalism. 
Conversely, online transactions are "stretched over space and time ", and "dis-embedded " from a 
relation of personal trust and physical presence8. In this environment, consumers are asked to 
disclose sensitive informatio n and personal data either to a retailer, online intermediary or digital 
platform which can be hacked, or personal identification of the consumer leaked, while making the 
transaction.  
3.3.  The difficulty of developing adequate online trust increases when cross -border transactions are 
made – particularly if one of the parties to the transaction is from a jurisdiction with a high incidence 
of counterfeits or a weak rule of law9. As per data10 from econsumer.gov, there were 36,770 reports 
of international fraud i n 2021 in which 84% of the respondents reported losses amounting to $ 227.4 
Million (USD), which shows that the problem is non -trivial.  
3.4.  The major issues in consumer protection in e -commerce can be appreciated through an analysis 
of a typical commercial sa le transaction in which there are three stages/phases11 in the consumer -
business relationship, and the possible challenges which the consumer may face in each phase. 
While many of these concerns arise even in offline transactions, offline trade often has a n adequate 
legal and regulatory framework to protect consumers, which is not always the case with e -
commerce, particularly cross -border transactions.  
A. Pre -Purchase Phase  
i. Information asymmetry  is quite prominent in e -commerce transactions due to the nature 
of the Internet and complexity of terms and conditions to which consumers may not always 
have timely access. This is further exacerbated by the presence of opaque product search 
algorithms. T herefore, consumers are more vulnerable online to misleading and deceptive 
conduct. In addition, consumers in developing countries, are said to face difficulties in 
establishing the identity and location of a provider of products online12. 
 
ii. Unfair comm ercial practices  adopted by businesses. The impersonality of e -commerce 
dilutes the interaction between sellers and consumers, thereby increasing consumer 
 
6 OECD Glossary of Statistical terms, http://stats.oecd.org/ glossary/detail.asp?ID=4721 . 
7 Consumer protection in electronic commerce - Note by the UNCTAD secretariat . 
8 F. Kamari and S. Kamari, “Trust in Electronic Commerce: A New Model for Building Online Trust in 
B2C”, European Journal of Business and Management, 10(4), 2012, 125.  
9 The Global Governance of Online Consumer Protection and E -commerce Building Trust - WEF White 
Paper . 
10 https://econsumer.gov/en/News/ComplaintTrend/3#cr nt. 
11 Consumer protection in electronic commerce - Note by the UNCTAD secretariat . 
12 Ibid. WT/GC/W/857  
 
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  vulnerability. Sellers are able to mislead consumers about the nature of the product by 
providing unt ruthful information, using aggressive marketing techniques, creating confusion 
between the trade names or trademarks of competitors and even falsely representing 
themselves as consumers and posting reviews in their name on popular online platforms.  
 
iii. F ake/Counterfeit products:  The Organization for Economic Cooperation and 
Development (OECD) estimates suggest that pirated and counterfeit products currently make 
up 3.3% of world trade, and there is more than $1.5 trillion worth of illicit products sold on line 
globally.  
 
iv. Unsolicited electronic commercial communications (spam)  may be sent to potential 
consumers via email, messenger services, social networks and text messages, raising issues 
about privacy and trust.  
 
B. Purchase Phase  
A number of challenges are posed to the consumers once they make a purchase decision online. 
These include unfair contract terms, online payment security and data protection and privacy, 
including in non -monetary transactions which are briefly described as under:  
 
i. Contract terms  which may not be clear, difficult to understand and may misrepresent/hide 
terms and conditions.  
 
ii. Electronic contracts:  Jurisdictions need legislation that recognizes the validity of a 
contract concluded online.  
 
iii. Issues related to online payments:  Consumers in developing countries in particular, 
face many issues related to delays in receiving of payment receipts, irreversible payments, 
late confirmations, payment fulfilment etc.  
 
iv. Personal information & data protection issues:  Consumers incur security risks while 
providing data online, their data may be accessed by unauthorized third parties without the 
knowledge or consent of the consumer. Further challenges on this theme relate to the lack of 
knowledge of how collected data is being used online, non -clarity on aspects pertaining to the 
liability for data breaches, data sharing among third parties and applicable law and jurisdiction. 
These concerns are consistent across age, gender, country, and personality. Finally, personal 
data and information is a big valuable resource to the platforms and businesses. A new 
contemporary trend gaining traction is in which, consumers acquire free goods in exchange of 
their personal data, most often not knowing the pitfalls of this transaction.  
 
v. Cooling -off period:  E-commerce changes the pace of exchange. Consumers may want a 
period in which to cancel mistaken online orders. The exact length of this period varies 
between jurisdictions. Product prices may also move while a consumer is online.  
 
C. Post -Purchase  
The final phase of the transaction also presents challenges to the consumer in the form of liability 
rules and dispute resolution arrangements which may be unfavourable to the consumers.  
 
i. Liability Rules:  Lack of clarity on who is liab le in the event of the problem, particularly if 
multiple providers are involved. Determining the liability of the platform on which the 
transaction has occurred. Lack of clarity on protections afforded by a seller 's jurisdiction, the 
redress available in t he event of a dispute and enforcement of awards due to consumers. 
Approaches to liability vary across jurisdictions, and the ongoing debates on the responsibility 
of online marketplaces.  
 
ii. Management of returns:  Consumers often face difficulties while attempting to return 
faulty/ damaged/ undesirable products including those relating to logistics, companies 
refusing refunds etc. which are compounded by the lack of clear return and exchange policies.  
 
iii. Dispute resolution:  This is a recurrent challen ge in e -commerce transactions particularly 
for cross -border e -commerce transactions. The issue of determining the applicable law and WT/GC/W/857  
 
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  jurisdiction, easy access to a fair and impartial dispute resolution mechanism, cost and effort 
in filing the claim and obt aining the decision are some of the major elements of this theme. 
Further, dispute -resolution options available to consumers vary across jurisdictions, and there 
is still no consensus as to whether dispute resolution for online transactions should be 
regulated by governments or self -regulated by the private sector.  
 
D. Regulatory Aspects  
Apart from the challenges and issues which are related to a typical transaction, as analysed earlier, 
there is a wide gap in the level and standards of Consumer protection across the world, as discussed 
below.  
 
i. Adoption of E -Commerce legislations:  In terms of the adoption of E -Commerce 
Legislation across the world data from the UNCTAD Global Cyberlaw Tracker13 which is the 
first ever global mapping of cyberlaws, is quite revealing. While 81% countries have e -
transaction laws and nearly the same num ber of countries (80%) having cyber -crime laws, 
and 71% of countries having privacy laws, only 59% of the countries have consumer 
protection laws. Thus, despite the importance of consumer confidence for business -to-
consumer e -commerce, many developing and transition economies particularly in Africa and 
Asia still lack laws to protect consumers online.  
 
ii. Mapping of Consumer Protection regulatory Framework:  The UNCTAD Secretariat14 
has conducted a study using a questionnaire -based approach to obtain cross country trends 
and benchmarks in consumer protection frameworks. While the data may not be complete 
due to the fact that many countries have not responded to the questionnaire, there are still 
significant number of 'no' replies by many countries on importa nt themes like Presence of a 
designated consumer protection contact point (63 countries), Countries with no experience in 
cross-border cooperation on enforcement (47 countries), Countries where the agency does 
carry out initiatives for vulnerable and disad vantaged consumers (44 countries), Countries 
with no Cross -border out -of-court alternative consumer dispute resolution initiatives (55 
countries). This depicts the significant ground that needs to be covered to bring convergence 
in the level and standard o f protection to Consumers in E -Commerce transactions across the 
world.  
 
4  WORK AT THE INTERNATIONAL LEVEL ON CONSUMER PROTECTION & E -COMMERCE  
4.1.  Against this backdrop, it will now be useful to refer to the major work being carried out at the 
international leve l in the theme of Consumer Protection in E -Commerce.  
4.2.  The UN Guidelines on Consumer Protection (UNGCP)15 have had a non -negligible impact 
on national and global consumer protection16 by being an important influence in the development of 
national and regiona l policies on this theme, and have created a moral force and sensitivity to 
consumer issues, influenced cross border cooperation at the regional level and have inspired other 
organisations to take up further work in the field.  
4.3.  The OECD Guidelines/recommend ations on Consumer Protection in E -Commerce17, 
adopted in 1999 and thereafter updated in 2016, aim to ensure, as the UNGCP, that online 
consumers benefit from equal protection as those who buy from a local store.  
4.4.  The G-20 has also been quite active in the area. In 2017, in Düsseldorf, G20 Ministers 
responsible for the digital economy underlined the importance of consumer protection in their G20 
Roadmap for Digitalisation: Policies for a Digital Future (the "Roadmap "). In o rder to support G20 
economies in their efforts to implement the roadmap, and at the request of the 2017 G20 German 
 
13 https://unctad.org/page/online -consumer -protection -legislation -worldwide . 
14 World consumer protection map https://unctad.org/topic/competition -and-consumer -
protection/consumer -protection -map. 
15 United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection, UNCTAD/DITC/CPLP/MISC/2016/1 . 
16 Excerpts from The United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection: Legal Implications and New 
Frontiers, I. Benöhr, Journal of Consumer Policy (2020) 43:105 –124. 
17 Consumer Protection in E -Commerce, OE CD Recommendation 2016 . WT/GC/W/857  
 
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  Presidency, the OECD produced a toolkit for protecting Digital Consumers, with a set of actionable 
principles.  
4.5.  An increasing number of Region al or Preferential trade agreements (PTAs)  cover cross -
border e -commerce18. According to earlier research conducted by the WTO Secretariat, of the 275 
PTAs that were in force and notified to the WTO as of May 2017, 75 contain provisions specific to e -
comme rce. Of these, 65% include online consumer protection provisions, about 58% contain 
provisions on personal information protection and 28% cover unsolicited commercial electronic 
messages. The legal strength and enforceability of these provisions varies sig nificantly. On the 
stronger side of the spectrum are provisions that are clearly mandatory and enforceable. At the 
weaker end of the spectrum are provisions framed in language seeking the most effective 
methodologies that may be difficult to enforce in pra ctice.  
4.6.  Provisions on online consumer protection are also included in other regional economic 
integration models19. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was the first developing 
region to prepare a unified e -commerce legal framework, and has s ince set out a common strategy 
for consumer policy as well as an e -commerce trade pact.  
4.7.  At the WTO , the Ministerial Conference in its twelfth Session in Geneva, decided to reinvigorate 
the ongoing Work programme on Electronic Commerce particularly in line with its development 
dimension. As protection of consumer is at the core of the subject, focussed discussions on this 
theme can pave the way forward.  
5  GUIDING QUESTIONS  
In light of the above, the members are requested to share their experiences, comments 
and suggestions on the subject. Some of the guiding questions are as below:  
 
1. What are members ' experiences regarding Consumer Protection in e -commerce?  
 
2. How can members enhance regulatory cooperation between their enforcement agencies relating 
to con sumer protection?  
 
3. What role can be played by the WTO in enhancing consumer protection in e -commerce?  
 
Bibliography  
1. The UNCTAD B2C e -commerce index 2020  
2. UNCTAD estimates of Global e -commerce 2019, and preliminary assessment of C OVID -19 impact 
on online retail 2020  
3. UNCTAD. 2021. COVID -19 and e -commerce: a global review  
4. The UN Manual on Consumer Protection  
5. The Global Governance of Online Consumer Protection and E -commerce Building Trust - WEF White 
Paper  
6. Consumer protection in electronic commerce - Note by the UNCTAD Secretariat  
7. United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection, UNCTAD/DITC/CPLP/MISC/2016/1  
8. The United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection: Legal Implications and New Frontier s, I. 
Benöhr, Journal of Consumer Policy (2020) 43:105 –124  
9. Consumer Protection in E -Commerce, OECD Recommendation 2016  
10. G -20 Toolkit for protecting Digital Consumers  
 
__________  
 
18 The Global Governance of Online Consumer Protection and E -commerce Building Trust - WEF White 
Paper . 
19 Ibid. 