On 6th January 2022, the Office of Consumer Protection, Ministry of Economic Affairs conducted a virtual education program for e-commerce operators on Consumer Protection in E-commerce mainly to promote fair trade practices in e-commerce which will lead to protection of consumers engaging in on-line businesses. The participants included those e-commerce operators who have not attended the similar program conducted last year. The officials of OCP also attended the program.
During the program, the e-commerce operators were educated on Consumer Protection Act of Bhutan 2012, consumer rights, and obligations of e-commerce operators such as:
- Requirement to provide true and correct product information;
- Requirement to maintain consumer privacy and data protection;
- Transparency and disclosure of the details of e-commerce operators in their platform;
- Requirement to provide safe payment method;
- Obligation to product return, replacement and refund;
- Requirement to issue electronic money receipts;
- Requirement to comply with safety standards;
- Requirement to avoid misleading advertisement, misleading indication of prices, misleading representation of the product or services, and any deceptive practices.
This is the second program conducted by the OCP, MoEA targeting the e-commerce operators operating in Bhutan. In total, there are 119 e-commerce operators in the country, out of which 113 are based in Thimphu and 16 in other dzongkhags.