With the government enacting new regulations to combat fake reviews and aid consumers in making informed decisions, e-commerce players such as Amazon and Flipkart will be required to voluntarily disclose all compensated consumer ratings of goods and services supplied on their platforms.
The BIS standards, which were created following extensive stakeholder engagements, will go into effect on November 25 as voluntary requirements. Consumer Affairs Secretary Rohit Kumar Singh on Monday said “the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has formulated a new standard ‘IS 19000:2022’ for Online Consumer Reviews—Principles and Requirements for their Collection, Moderation and Publication.”
In order to determine whether an organisation is adhering to these requirements, Singh stated that the BIS will release a certification process within the next 15 days. Participants in e-commerce can apply to the BSI for certification of this standard. “We are probably the first country in the world to formulate a standard for online reviews,” Singh said.
Both solicited and unsolicited reviews are recognised by the BIS. In any organisation, the individual in charge of managing the review will be referred to as the review administrator. “If a review is purchased or you are rewarding the person for writing the review, then that has to be clearly marked that as a purchased review,” Singh said.
The BIS has also listed out the steps for verification of a review author. While developing the standards, industry organisations like CII, FICCI, Assocham, Nasscom, ASCI, NRAI, and CAIT were also contacted.
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