Country of an Origin tag must

These days, the label “Made in China” is everywhere. In the current manufacturing scenario,
when a supply chain or various components for one product is spread across several
countries, it is not always easy to identify the place of manufacturing. For example, many
mobiles, assembled in India, have close to 90% components coming from places like China,
Korea or Taiwan.
This is actually a Customs requirement: all imported products must be marked with their
country of origin since it makes it obvious if good can legally be imported. Countries of
origin are where products were manufactured, produced, or grown. According to a survey by
Local Circles, according to an IANS report, ‘37% Online buyers look for Country of Origin
of the products’ in the wake of currently subsiding border tensions with China.
In light of this, Indian Government has asked eCommerce platforms such as Amazon and
Flipkart to display the country of origin on new products listed by sellers on their sites by
August 1 and legacy items by October 1 without stipulating a deadline. After all, India-
China’s relation of the figure of 36 is a daily morning tea gossip and this would also help
consumers avoid the purchase of products originating from countries such as China if they
wish to boycott them, the people said, requesting anonymity.

The country of origin is necessary for many reasons, one of which is to make obvious
whether a good can be legally imported and ensuring that products clear customs as
efficiently as possible. In addition, it provides the country with statistics on imported goods,
which is useful for future analysis of the country's economic market.
Also, the government in view of growing its market toward manufacture based economy and
become self-reliant (Atma-Nirbhar). Ecommerce players want compliance for the display of
country of origin on goods to be in tranches. They demanded manufacturers to be made to
come on board to help the implementation of the move.

Representatives of about 30 e-commerce companies were present in the meeting and they
raised their concerns regarding the feasibility of the move and lack of clarity in the Legal
Metrology (Packaged Commodity) Rules. They have asked for more time in the
implementation of the move invoking present challenges such as the situation of MSMEs due
to the Pandemic and the technological hurdles.
Legislation regarding the declaration of country of origin is not harmonized within India. In
India, there is no law regarding the requirement to disclose the country of origin on non-
packaged goods to the current law. Thus, the products under the exception to labelling are not
there and the penalties for the right to mark the products, False certification and intentionally
misrepresented products are not made.
GeM portal has made it mandatory for sellers to submit the country of origin while
registering any new product on the online procurement portal.
The GeM portal, which is a special purpose vehicle of the Ministry of Commerce and
Industry, has earlier taken other measures, too, to promote India made goods. As per the
present rules, forbids below Rs 200 crore, only Class I and Class II — those with more than
20% local content — are eligible to bid.
Country of an Origin tag made mandatory by Ministry of Finance by adding a new Rule No.
149 in the General Financial Rules, 2017.

Centre, e-commerce platforms summoned by Delhi High Court to respond on ‘Country of

Origin’ developments on a petition asking to display the name of the Country of origin of the
products, The Hindu reported. The matter is scheduled for hearing on July 22nd.
At present, there is no legal obligation to identify the country of origin on non-packaged
goods. The DPIIT will hold discussions with the consumer affairs ministry over the
introduction of the relevant legal provisions on listing such information.
The companies sought more time to implement the changes, which are part of the
government’s plan to curb imports, at an online meeting with officials. The platforms said the
measures should be introduced in a phased manner with the involvement of manufacturers
and sellers in the process. For a large retailer like Amazon and Flipkart, it’s difficult to mend
all by adding the origin of all products.

E-pharma companies told DPIIT that drug manufacturers had specific exemptions under the
packaged commodity law. An executive said, “We told the DPIIT that the compliance burden
for this was on manufacturers and sellers, who weren’t in the room”. And added, “Tech
enablement is something we can do, and have already been doing for the past few weeks.”
A government official stated,” No decision was taken — it was only a consultation and
follow-up of the previous meeting. A deadline will be decided later because packaging issues
come under the consumer affairs ministry”.
Some executives believe that “the move will put online sellers at a disadvantage, benefiting
offline ones.” According to a source person, “Participants said that sellers can only reproduce
what is on the package and the government needs to rope in manufacturers if they want
details on value addition such as a photograph of the label showing origin, assembly and
other details,”
Smaller sellers are likely to be the worst hit due to increased compliance pressure by the
government. An executive said that 90% of the listings can become compliant with the new
rule by the end of July, though it will be difficult for smaller manufacturers to do so.

Compliance Policy Guide on Country of Origin tag and Preferential vs. Non-preferential Rule
for the country of origin tag rules needed in India.