The Ministry of Economy has developed a draft Law of Ukraine “On Consumer Protection” (as amended). The new bill is designed to introduce effective mechanisms for regulating e-commerce. This was discussed during the meeting of the First Vice Prime Minister – Minister of Economy of Ukraine Oleksiy Lyubchenko with the Ukrainian Business Council on September 7.
“Regulation of e-commerce – the requirements of today. After all, the inability to identify an online seller causes insecurity of consumer rights and budget losses due to non-registration of sellers as entrepreneurs. Therefore, to solve these problems, we are initiating a mechanism of voluntary identification in the register of online stores by sellers of goods in e-commerce, “said Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Iryna Novikova during the meeting.
The draft Law of Ukraine “On Consumer Protection” (as amended), developed by the Ministry of Economy, contains rules that stipulate that entrepreneurs who carry out electronic sales will be required to post information about themselves as a business entity and a list of information about products.
The bill provides a definition of “electronic trading platform (marketplace)” and “electronic product comparison service (price aggregator)”;
liability is established for failure to provide complete information by the business entity regarding its identification.
The draft law is currently being considered by the Cabinet of Ministers.
The State Food and Consumer Service also has the right to apply to the Internet service provider to restrict access to the website of businesses that use unfair business practices, violate consumer protection legislation and which cannot be identified. Liability for providing inaccurate data is established
At the same time, the Ministry of Economy together with the Ministry of Finance are working to create a platform “E-buyer” for sellers who carry out business activities in online stores, including marketplaces, price aggregators, classifaids. This electronic service will allow to identify the seller by granting him the status of the State Food and Consumer Service “Verified seller”.
The Ministry of Finance also developed a draft Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to the Law of Ukraine” On E-Commerce “to introduce information by sellers to the central executive body that implements state policy in the field of state control over compliance with consumer protection legislation.” The draft law provides for the creation of a “Single state web portal for consumers in the field of e-commerce”, the introduction of a mechanism for verifying the authenticity of sellers’ data by introducing identification and verification for sellers and establishing responsibility for providing inaccurate data.