New Delhi, Sep 2 (IANS) The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) on Wednesday imposed a penalty of Rs 10 lakh on Dial4Trade Technologies Private Limited for allowing the online listing, hosting, advertising and sale of ammonium nitrate on its e-commerce platform without the mandatory regulatory safeguards prescribed under law.
The final order was passed by the CCPA under Sections 10, 20 and 21 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. The Authority is headed by Chief Commissioner Nidhi Khare, along with Commissioner Anupam Mishra.
The CCPA has also directed Dial4Trade to immediately stop listing, hosting, advertising or facilitating the sale of ammonium nitrate and any other substance classified as an explosive under the Explosives Act, 1884, on its platform.
During its examination, the Authority found that ammonium nitrate had been made available for purchase without adequate safeguards. These included disclosure of the seller’s valid licence details issued by the Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO), verification of the buyer’s identity and licensed status, and mechanisms to ensure transaction traceability as required under the Ammonium Nitrate Rules, 2012.
The CCPA also found that the listing did not adequately caution users about the legal restrictions governing the possession and use of ammonium nitrate or the consequences of unauthorised possession.
The product listing was accompanied by images depicting explosions and blast effects. According to the CCPA, such imagery was more likely to attract attention to the product than to communicate its hazardous and strictly regulated nature.
The authority held that a product listing hosted on a digital marketplace and communicated to the public through the internet qualifies as an “advertisement” under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
It further observed that presenting a regulated explosive substance as an ordinary consumer product, without informing users that its lawful purchase requires the prescribed licence, amounts to a misleading advertisement and an unfair trade practice.
Dial4Trade had argued that it operates as a business-to-business marketplace intermediary and therefore should not be held responsible for listings uploaded by third-party sellers. The CCPA rejected the argument, noting that the platform allowed the substance to be purchased in quantities as low as a single unit and did not have minimum-order requirements or institutional-buyer verification mechanisms typically associated with a B2B marketplace.
–IANS
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