‘Country of Origin’ Filter Now Mandatory for E-Commerce Platforms

On February 13, 2026, the Department of Consumer Affairs notified a crucial amendment to the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011, mandating e-commerce platforms to provide searchable and sortable country-of-origin filters for imported products.

The amendment introduces sub-rule (10A) under Rule 6, which provides:

“Every e-commerce entity selling imported products shall provide the product listings of such imported products in a searchable and sortable filter specifying the country of origin.”

Key Highlights

• Effective Date: The new amendment will come into effect on July 1, 2026.
• Applicability: It applies to all e-commerce entities selling imported products.
• Country-of-Origin Filter: The amendment requires such e-commerce entities to provide the product listings of imported products in a searchable and sortable filter specifying the country of origin.

Comparison with the October 2025 Draft

The notified amendment does not materially deviate from the draft released in October 2025. This draft had proposed introducing the requirement as a proviso to Rule 6(10), which requires e-commerce entities to display certain mandatory declarations, including the country of origin.

By instead inserting a standalone sub-rule (10A) under Rule 6, the final notification treats the country-of-origin filter as an independent compliance obligation. This drafting approach avoids potential interpretive ambiguity that may have arisen had the requirement been embedded within the declaration-display framework of Rule 6(10).

Concluding Thoughts

Currently, e-commerce entities are required only to display the country of origin as part of mandatory declarations. The new sub-rule goes a step further by mandating a searchable and sortable filter, thereby converting passive disclosure into an active discovery mechanism.

This significantly enhances consumer ability to identify and opt for domestic alternatives, while also facilitating more efficient compliance monitoring by reducing reliance on manual review of individual listings.