The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has reportedly sent notices to Amazon for allegedly using dark patterns on its website to trick customers into purchasing an Amazon Prime membership.

A Moneycontrol report said that one of the notices which was sent last month came after complaints were received by the consumer protection body on the retail giant’s Prime subscription model.

“..Amazon.in has knowingly duped millions of consumers into unknowingly enrolling in its Amazon Prime service (“Non consensual Enrollees” or “Non consensual Enrolment”),” the notice by the CCPA said.

The CCPA in the notice reportedly alleged that Amazon used manipulative, coercive or deceptive user-interface designs known as “dark patterns” to trick consumers into automatically renewing their Prime subscription.

An official claimed that while subscribing to Amazon is an easy process, subscribing out of it is either impossible or extremely difficult, making it a type of unfair trade practice, thereby bringing it under the purview of consumer affairs.

The official reportedly added that even as a subscription gets added automatically or is advertised on the platform in bold letters, it is relatively not easy if someone wants to cancel their subscription and it came down to the number of steps and the complications in the process.

Earlier this month, the central government banned the use of “dark patterns” on e-commerce platforms which intend to deceive customers or manipulate their choices.

A gazette notification — Guidelines for prevention and regulation of dark patterns” — was issued on November 30 by the CCPA which applies to all platforms offering goods and services in India, and even advertisers and sellers.

It added that resorting to dark patterns will amount to misleading advertisement unfair trade practices or violation of consumer rights and that the penalty will be imposed as per the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act.

Meanwhile, Amazon won’t have to pay about 250 million euros in back taxes after EU judges ruled in its favour on Thursday, dealing a defeat to the EU in its efforts to tackle corporate tax avoidance.