Measures to Protect Consumers in E-commerce Marketplace

Mr Shawn Huang Wei Zhong asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) what measures are in place to protect consumers in the e-commerce marketplace; (b) whether there are plans to introduce new protections in response to the rise in complaints; and (c) how does the Ministry ensure that consumers are aware of their rights and the protections available to them when engaging in e-commerce transactions.

The Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act protects consumers, whether transacting via e-commerce or offline, against unfair business practices, such as making false or misleading representations about a product or service. Enterprise Singapore and the Singapore Standards Council have also published guidelines on best practices for industry to adopt in electronic commerce transactions, to avoid disputes.

More generally, consumers are advised to make purchases from reliable e-commerce retailers. For example, they can choose retailers which are CaseTrust-accredited, or patronise e-marketplaces that have adopted the Standard Dispute Management Framework developed by the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE). The Ministry of Home Affairs also publishes the E-commerce Marketplace Transaction Safety Ratings, which rates major e-commerce marketplaces annually on the availability of critical safety features to protect consumers from scams.

In addition, consumers should familiarise themselves with common tactics used by errant online retailers to mislead consumers. CASE and the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore have published an advisory on such practices on their websites.

Consumers who encounter e-commerce disputes can approach CASE for assistance.