Amazon, which has refused to appear before a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) next week, said on Friday that its position on the Personal Data Protection Bill 2019 has been “misconstrued” and the e-commerce giant would work with “the JPC to set the record straight”.
The online retail giant is scheduled to appear before the committee on October 28.
In a statement shared with IANS, an Amazon spokesperson said that they have the utmost respect and regard for the important work being done by the JPC on the PDP Bill.
“We have already offered our written submissions for consideration of this august committee. We will continue to engage in any way the JPC considers fit,” the spokesperson said.
“The inability of our experts to travel from overseas due to travel restrictions and depose before the JPC during the ongoing pandemic may have been misconstrued and led to a misunderstanding,” the spokesperson added.
Sources suggest that the committee, which has 20 members from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha, is of the unanimous opinion that if Amazon representatives indeed fail to show up on October 28, “appropriate actions” can be initiated against the US business giant.
However, there is no clarity so far, as far as the nature of “appropriate actions” is concerned.
Apart from Amazon, companies such as Twitter and Facebook have also been summoned.
Google and Paytm too have been asked to appear before the committee on October 29.
–IANS
