E-commerce firm Jumia will now be liable for the safety and quality of products sold on its platform by third-party merchants after the competition watchdog in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) forced it to overhaul its terms and conditions.
The Comesa Competition Commission, which has been investigating the conduct of Jumia Group since September 2021, has now forced Jumia to make the changes in a move aimed at protecting consumers.
The watchdog found that the platform had excluded itself from being party to the contract for sale or purchase between customers and its agents, effectively shielding the e-commerce firm from any liability arising from the transactions.
Product liability cases have dogged e-commerce firms, including Amazon, in recent years as they turned their stores into an online bazaar fueled by millions of third-party vendors.
The e-commerce firms have always held that they are not legally responsible for defective products sold by third-party merchants on their sites.
The Comesa settlement could force Jumia to recall defective and unsafe products sold by third-party agents.
The watchdog noted that Jumia was, in some cases, not providing the consumer with any documents that connected the transaction to the third party as the seller.
Jumia offers e-commerce services through a marketplace and first-party sales, food delivery, logistics services as well as payment services through its fintech JumiaPay.
