The proposed Rules are a very positive development for the online gaming industry ecosystem for three reasons: a) they would create a legal framework for orderly and accelerated development of the industry. b) provide for very strong consumer safety measures and, most importantly, c) allow the industry to be self-regulated. These measures by bringing in recognition and regulatory certainty will allow for innovations and investments in the industry.
However, IAMAI members have also pointed out in a submission to the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) that the scoping of the rules has been done poorly and the following aspects need a major re-look. A) Definition of gaming and what is sought to be regulated. Here the members of the association feel that the definition of online gaming is too broad and vague and would unnecessarily bring under regulation and expensive compliance a set of firms that do not need to be regulated or need to be very lightly regulated. B) Certain provisions of the draft also seem to imply that service providers or partners that advertise, publish or host online games will have to comply with the Rules by verifying each game with the self-regulatory body (SRB) on an ongoing basis making it impractical. Intermediaries must not be obligated to ascertain and verify the registration of online games. C) Most importantly, the scoping of the SRB is not strong enough: the industry has asked for a retired Judge since ultimately the role of the SRB would be adjudication and the industry has asked for common principles by which gaming SRBs are governed.
Established in 2004, the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) is a not-for-profit industry body and the country's only organization representing the digital services industry with over 400 Indian and multinational corporations as its members, which include established companies in diverse sectors of the digital ecosystem as well as start-ups. Its mandate is to expand and enhance the online and mobile value-added services sectors. It is dedicated to presenting a unified voice of the businesses it represents to the government, investors, consumers and other stakeholders. IAMAI represents varied sectors such as online gaming, digital advertising, digital entertainment, TravelTech, digital payments, Fintech, digital commerce, Edutech, Healthtech, Agritech, blockchain, Big data, ML, AI & IoT, AR/ VR, LogisticsTech and so on
Advertisements