2. INTRODUCTION
There are many legal formalities that are required in order to start a
company and e-commerce activity in India. the Information
Technology Act 2000 prescribes stringent penal and pecuniary
penalties for violation of its provisions during e-commerce
transactions.
Any person starting an e-commerce business has to ensure cyber law
due diligence in India. Under the Information Technology Act 2000 (IT
Act 2000) there are many “Due Diligence Requirements” that
Banks, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Search Engines, E-Commerce
Portals, etc must fulfill. Of all stakeholders, Intermediaries must pay
special attention to Cyber Law Due Diligence Requirements of India.
Intermediaries like ISPs, Cyber Café owners, Web Hosting Service
Providers, Blogging Platforms, etc have to take care of issues pertaining
to Cyber Law, Cyber Security, Defamation Laws, Intellectual Property
Rights (IPRs) Violations, etc.
3. DOMAIN NAME
The first issue to be addressed is the choice of domain
name.
The concerned party has to apply for registration to
the appropriate national registry with a registration
fee.
Each domain name must be unique.
Disputes arise when more than one company tries to
get the same domain name.
In case of disputes, first come first served principle is
applied.
4. ONLINE AUCTIONS
There is no specific legislation dealing with online
auctions. It is only a manner of contracting and rules
relating to when an offer is accepted and revoked.
With online auctions there is no specific time frame, so the
website sets up a closing time by which all bids may be
placed.
Internet auctions are prone to “accidental fraud” i.e
participants fail to pay or deliver goods because they forget
and not with any fraudulent intention. To deal with
this, companies now for a fee, need to provide assurance
that goods are delivered and money paid with a guarantee.
In case of any problem, company takes the loss.
5. DISCLAIMER
A website can create legal liability for the e-commerce
business in each country from which someone accesses
the site. To limit the legal liability of the e-
commerce, the party should include disclaimer.
A disclaimer may reduce the chances of any legal
liability but it depends on the discretion of the court if
it upholds the exclusion of liability.
6. MANAGING A SITE
The customer may have queries, complaints or
comments regarding any part of the site. A good way
of addressing this is to design a standard automatic
response for every e-mail received.
Customer often shares personal information on a site.
The company needs to have a policy to deal with such
data. Personal data should not be gathered from this
source without a suitable warning.
7. CONCLUSION
E-commerce is about doing business electronically. Any
person intending to deal with certain goods and services
on-line should check the relevant rules which regulate
those goods and services.
A special care must be taken of the Online Copyright
issues that are increasingly posing problems for
Intermediaries. The liability of Internet Intermediaries for
Copyright Violations is an issue that should be taken very
seriously. With Laws like Digital Millennium Copyright Act
(DMCA) and similar Laws, this liability has become very
onerous.
Laws related to e-commerce in India are still evolving and
they vary as per different business models.
