The Department of Consumer Affairs has notified the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Amendment Rules, 2026, requiring every e-commerce entity selling imported products to offer searchable and sortable country-of-origin filters on their platforms. The rule takes effect on July 1, 2026.
Specifically, the Department’s February 13 notification inserts a new sub-rule (10A) under Rule 6 of the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011.
In practice, platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho, and quick-commerce players like Blinkit will need to build filter mechanisms that allow consumers to search and sort entire product catalogues by where goods were made. For instance, a shopper should be able to pull up only electronics made in India or only apparel imported from Bangladesh directly through the platform’s search interface.
Notably, the government first pushed e-commerce platforms on country-of-origin display in June 2020 but never backed it with formal regulation. Nearly six years later, the requirement finally has legal backing. However, as detailed below, enforcement of existing e-commerce compliance norms has proven challenging, raising questions about whether platforms will meet the July 1 deadline.
MediaNama had reported on the draft version of this rule in November 2025. The Department circulated the draft on October 23, 2025, and initially set a comment deadline of November 22, 2025. It later extended this by 15 days to December 8, 2025. The final notification came about two months after that deadline.
What changed between the draft and the final notification?
The government introduced two significant changes while finalising the rule.
First, the draft framed the requirement as a proviso to the existing sub-rule (10), using the language “Provided that every e-commerce entity…”. A proviso is a conditional clause attached to an existing rule. The final version, in contrast, creates a standalone sub-rule (10A), giving the provision independent legal force.
Second, the draft stated that the rules would take effect “on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette,” meaning platforms would have had to comply immediately. The final notification instead gives platforms until July 1, 2026. This four-and-a-half-month runway likely reflects industry feedback received by the Department during the consultation period.
Don’t platforms already display country of origin?
The 2017 amendment to the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 made it mandatory for e-commerce platforms to display key product details, including the manufacturer’s name, quantity, Maximum Retail Price (MRP), and country of origin on product pages. These requirements took effect in January 2018.
However, there is a critical difference between displaying information and making it discoverable. Currently, a consumer must click into each product listing individually to check where it was made. The…
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