Four ministers to meet today to draw up policies

Four ministers are scheduled to sit for a meeting on Wednesday to draw up policies needed to regulate the country’s growing e-commerce sector.

According to sources, Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, Information and Broadcasting Minister Hasan Mahmud and Law Minister Anisul Haque will meet at the Secretariat at 3:00pm.

The meeting comes at a time after 11 e-commerce companies, including Evaly and e-Orange, have been found involved with fraudulent activities, embezzlement, and money laundering.

The minister will take policy decisions to look into the overall issues of e-commerce organizations in the country and take appropriate steps in this regard. 

The meeting might decide to formulate a separate e-commerce law.

Earlier on Monday, a writ petition was filed in the High Court seeking its directives to establish an independent e-commerce regulatory authority to bring e-commerce companies under control.

The writ challenged the legitimacy of the defendants’ inaction or failure to ensure accountability in e-commerce commerce and to prevent practices that violate consumer rights. 

Six people, including the commerce secretary, information and communication technology secretary, finance secretary, BTRC chairman and E-Commerce Association president, have been accused in the writ petition.

Law enforcement agencies are now investigating 11 companies, including Evaly, E-Orange, Dhamaka and Qcoom, for allegedly embezzling at least Tk 3,317 crore from customers by taking advantage of the lack of strict laws and surveillance. 

Apart from that, more than a thousand e-commerce companies are currently running their businesses violating various laws, although most of them are registered with the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC), which is under the Ministry of Commerce. 

Law enforcers have already arrested the owners of Evaly and E-Orange as lawsuits were filed against them. 

In recent years, online shopping or e-commerce has become very popular in the country. But the whole sector fell into a crisis after allegations of fraud were leveled against few companies.