The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (“MIB”), in exercise of its powers under Rule 16 of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (“Digital Media Rules”), issued two orders on 22nd April 2022 for blocking of 16 YouTube based news channels and 1 Facebook account for spreading fake news on India’s foreign relations, national security, public order and communal harmony. The MIB had earlier issued similar orders for blocking websites, channels and social media accounts. Read More

The CERT-In has published Frequently Asked Questions (“FAQ’s”) in furtherance of its Cyber Security Directions dated 28th April 2022 (“CERT-In Directions”). The FAQ’s are a response to the general queries received by the CERT-In. Read More

The India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement ("CEPA") has been entered into with the intent to pursue a wide-ranging economic partnership as opposed to a less expansive Free Trade Agreement ("FTA"). Read More

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution notified the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Amendment Rules, 2022 on 28th March 2022. Read More

A Public Interest Litigation (“PIL”) has been filed in the Delhi High Court in April 2022, challenging the constitutional validity of the Criminal Procedure (Identification) Act, 2022 (“the Act”).Read More

Dr. Jacob Puliyel ("Petitioner"), a former member of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization ("NTAGI") had filed a public interest litigation challenging the constitutional validity of vaccine mandates imposed by States, particularly Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra. Read More

In exercise of its powers under Sections 35A and Section 56 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 and Chapter IIIB of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, the Reserve Bank of India (“RBI”) issued the Credit Card and Debit Card – Issuance and Conduct Directions, 2022 (“Directions”) on April 21, 2022. The Directions shall become effective from July 01, 2022. Read More

On 28th April 2022, the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team ("CERT-In") issued 'Directions under Section 70B (6) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 ("IT Act") enlarging reporting obligations of several categories of corporate organizations in relation to information security practices, procedure, prevention, response and reporting of cyber incidents for Safe & Trusted Internet' ("Directions"). Read More

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting ("MIB") on 23 April 2022, issued an advisory to private TV news channels, for coverage of events and incidents in a manner violative of the Programme Code framed under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 ("the Act") and advised them to refrain from airing such content. Read More

In a significant development for the film industry, the Kerala High Court has ruled that each film production unit would have to constitute an Internal Complaints Committee (“ICC”), to deal with complaints of harassment against women. Read More

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting ("MIB"), on 4th April 2022, launched the revamped Broadcast Seva Portal as a single point facility for various stakeholders of the broadcasting sector. Read More

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has introduced a new form for Corporate Social Responsibility (“CSR”) reporting, i.e. the CSR-2 form. The new form, CSR-2, was notified by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs on 11th February, 2022 vide the Companies (Accounts) Amendment Rules, 2022. Read More

The Department of Pharmaceuticals has released Draft Uniform Code for Medical Device Marketing Practices 2022 (“Draft Code”). Read More

The Department of Consumer Affairs recently notified the Consumer Protection (Direct Selling) Rules, 2021 (“Direct Selling Rules”) on December 28, 2021, in accordance with Section 101 (2) (zg) read with Section 94 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 with the intent to regulate the Direct selling industry (engaged in activities involving multi-level marketing, pyramid schemes etc.) which was largely unregulated. A Direct Selling Entity (“DSE”) is a principal entity, which sells or offers to sell goods or services through direct sellers who undertake direct selling business on a principal-to-principal basis. Read More

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (“MoEFCC”) inserted Schedule II, Guidelines on Extended Producer Responsibility for Plastic Packaging (“EPR Guidelines”) as an Amendment to the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 (“PWM Rules”). This is in furtherance to the responsibility of Producers, Importers and Brand Owners (“PIBO’s”) demarcated under Rule 9 (1) of the PWM Rules. Extended Producer Responsibility is a regulatory approach as per which PIBO’s are required to ensure responsible collection channelisation, treatment and/or disposal of plastic waste. Read More

In a significant step, the Government has clarified in Parliament that there is no proposal at present to bring in a separate law to ensure and authenticate all social media accounts or for linking a government identity with social media accounts of individuals. Read More

The Department of Telecommunications (“DoT”) has, vide an Amendment Notification dated 31 January 2022 (“Amendment Notification”), modified certain important compliance requirements pertaining to Phase III and Phase IV of the Mandatory Testing and Certification of Telecommunication Equipment (“MTCTE”) regime. These modifications amend certain requirements previously notified by the DoT on 22 September 2021. Read More

The Department of Consumer Affairs, Legal Metrology Division had invited stakeholder consultations on the proposal for decriminalization of the Legal Metrology Act, 2009 (“LM Act”) on 13 July, 2020. The LM Act is the primary instrument which establishes, enforces and regulates the standards of weights and measures in the country. Revisions have been suggested for penalties between Sections 25 and 53 of the LM Act governing the manufacture or sale of non standard weights, selling of non-standard packaging with incorrect mandatory declarations, etc. Read More

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (“MeitY”), on 21st February 2022, released a Draft India Data Accessibility and Use Policy ("Draft Policy"), along with a Background Note on the same. The Draft Policy is aimed at transforming India’s ability to harness public sector data, in pursuit of the higher goal of social transformation. It envisages both government to public data sharing through the existing open data sharing portal as well as government to government data sharing. Read More

The amendments to the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011 (“LMPC Rules”), notified on 2nd November 2021 are set to take effect on 1sT April 2022. The LMPC Rules provide for, among other things, the mandatory declarations that should appear on labels of prepackaged commodities, where the declarations should appear and the manner in which they should appear. Read More

The massive growth in the cryptocurrency market in India has led to a steep rise of advertisements in cryptocurrency exchanges. With the aim to prevent misleading advertisements and present the end consumer Read More

The Department of Telecommunications (“DoT”) on 18th February 2022 released ‘Guidelines for registration process of ‘Machine to Machine' service providers & WPAN/WLAN Connectivity Provider for M2M Services' (“Guidelines”). Read More

The Advertising Standards Council of India (“ASCI”) on 27 May 2021 released the 'Guidelines for Influencer Advertising in Digital Media' (“Guidelines”). The objective of the Guidelines is to enable the consumers to differentiate between the content created by influencers in the general scheme of things to that from content created with a promotional/profit-making intent. Contextually, the Guidelines have been created to prevent the circulation of promotional posts and campaigns that may exploit the lack of knowledge of the consumer, mislead the consumer and abuse their trust. Read More

"Consumerism" as a concept is universal and has been in existence since the origin of trade and commerce in human civilisation. Every individual is or has the potential to be a "consumer" irrespective of age, social order, gender or region. Read More