MOSCOW, March 5 Senator Andrei Kutepov and deputy Vladimir Gutenev (United Russia) submitted to the State Duma a bill on regulating activities aggregators of information on goods (marketplaces), follows from the database of the lower house of parliament.
The developers draw attention to the lack of unified legal regulation of the activities of marketplaces, which “gives marketplaces with a significant position in the market” an unlimited opportunity to unilaterally change operating conditions, including for the worse for sellers and owners of order delivery points. The bill establishes requirements for contracts concluded by marketplace owners with sellers and owners of order pick-up points.
At the same time, it is mandatory to post the text of the agreement in the current and previous editions on the website of the marketplace owner on the Internet. And the requirements for the procedure for carrying out the activities of marketplace owners are divided into two groups depending on their “economic situation.” For the first group, there are universal requirements that are the same for all aggregators, including the verification of sellers and owners of the order pick-up point, the provision of relevant information to buyers, and the provision of proportionate sanctions to the identified violations.
The second group includes special requirements that apply to market participants who account for more than 20% of the total volume of transactions using marketplaces for the previous year (in value terms). They also relate to the prohibition of including in the contract conditions on the prohibition of entering into agreements with the owners of other marketplaces, on price parity, and on the imposition of unfavorable conditions on suppliers and owners of order pick-up points.
Also, owners of marketplaces that occupy a significant position in the market will be required to notify of changes to the contract that worsen the situation of sellers or owners of the order pick-up point 30 days before they come into force, and post a “trade and sales (commercial) policy” on their website. containing information about the cost of the services they provide, the grounds for providing discounts and their size.
Taking into account the specifics of the e-commerce sector, the bill also proposes to distinguish between the intermediary activities of aggregators of information about goods and retail chains. At the same time, the legal status of sellers and owners of the order delivery point, the range of their rights and obligations are determined, and the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) of Russia is given the authority to consider cases of violation of the introduced rules and requirements. It is expected that if adopted, the law will come into force on March 1, 2025.