Adv. Meerza Zaheer, Chief Consultant, Senate Legis
Electronic commerce is the process by which businesses and consumers buy and sell goods and services through an electronic medium.
We have been witnessing the online presence of majority of companies in the present market since early 1990. Since you have recognized the ability to conduct business through the internet, you might have also accepted the online shopping starts from food and clothes to entertainment, furniture and whatever essential products for human life under the sky.
Electronic commerce brings both comforts and discomforts to its users. You may be enjoying the comforts widely include on the spot sales and purchase, competitive costs, convenience, saving of time, etc. On the other hand, the discomforts include frauds and cyber-crimes committed against e-commerce users. At times there are disagreements and dissatisfactions as well among buyers and purchasers that cannot be resolved using traditional litigation methods.
But the countries like India is lagging behind in applying the ADR or ODR mechanisms and technology driven solutions to find settlements against such cropping commercial conflicts or e-commerce disputes. It is quite unfortunate that India is still strange to the resolution of e-commerce disputes by means of ODR.
ODR more evidently capable of helping e-commerce disputes resolutions in India and like countries. I feel some of the areas where we must pay special attention include technology related dispute resolution, film, media and entertainment industry dispute resolution in India, cross border e-commerce dispute resolution in India, etc. E-courts and ODR can be effectively used for all the above mentioned purposes.
E-commerce players in India have many techno legal obligations to follow and cyber law due diligence in India is one such obligation. Not only legal requirements for undertaking e-commerce in India are stringent but even Internet intermediaries liability in India must be taken seriously by companies engaged in online transactions and businesses.
As the cyber presence of the commercial transactions is cropping up without any breaks use of e-courts paving way for e-commerce disputes resolution has become a necessity in all senses. The first and second segment of the project under the banner of Gateway to Equity & Justice (www.odrsupport.com) and (www.softsettle.com) providing ODR policies and frame work, facilitating E-commerce players from getting assaulted by some laws which may cause them held liable for cases like Intellectual Property infringement and other violations, introduced e-Court as a virtual resolution center or settlement support center.