The provincial e-commerce councils should establish an effective coordination mechanism to improve the consumer protection regime in a bid to lift consumer confidence in online shopping, said Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood.
He made the remarks while speaking at the eighth meeting of the National e-Commerce Council (NeCC) on Thursday.
During the meeting, officials of the Ministry of Commerce apprised the participants of the two key goals under the national e-commerce policy which included the development of an e-commerce information portal.
They added that a business-to-business trade portal had been launched in February to guide and support e-commerce platforms.
Commerce secretary suggested that the Ministry of Commerce should coordinate with the Ministry of IT and Telecom, State Bank of Pakistan and Federal Board of Revenue to promptly
notify tax incentives for the IT sector.
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Additionally, the commerce secretary directed the NeCC to collaborate with the provincial e-commerce councils for developing robust e-commerce ecosystems in the respective provinces.
Representatives of the provincial consumer protection councils apprised the meeting participants of the status of consumer protection laws and their relevance to the e-commerce transactions.
On the occasion, PayFast CEO said that his firm was a licensed and regulated fintech company that allowed businesses to receive payments from customers through a variety of online payment methods.
“The firm operates with utmost security and enables payment acceptance for various parties such as e-commerce merchants and retailers, freelancers, corporations and billing entities,” he said.
The meeting focused on the issuance of a notification for the recently announced tax incentive package for freelancers and the IT industry, consumer protection in e-commerce transactions, guidelines for the labelling of products sold on online marketplaces and harmonisation of definitions for digital services.
NeCC comprises representatives of public and private sectors, constituted under the National e-Commerce Policy approved by the federal cabinet in October 2019.
The objective of NeCC is to develop effective collaboration with all relevant sectors for implementation of the e-commerce policy.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 1st, 2022.
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