Consumer Protection Act

Every year on March 15 World Consumer Rights Day is
celebrated.
Celebrating this day is a chance to demand that the rights of
all consumers are protected and respected, and to protest
against social injustices and market abuses which undermine
those rights.
What is the Consumer Protection Act?
The Consumer Protection Act, implemented in 1986, gives
easy and fast compensation to consumer grievances. It
safeguards and encourages consumers to speak against
insufficiency and flaws in goods and services. If traders and
manufacturers practice any illegal trade, this act protects their
rights as a consumer. The primary motivation of this forum is
to bestow aid to both the parties and eliminate lengthy
lawsuits.
This Protection Act covers all goods and services of all
public, private, or cooperative sectors, except those exempted
by the central government. The act provides a platform for a
consumer where they can file their complaint, and the forum
takes action against the concerned supplier and compensation
is granted to the consumer for the hassle he/she has
encountered.
Consumer Rights and Responsibilities:
The Rights of the Consumer
• Right to Safety- Before buying, a consumer can insist on
the quality and guarantee of the goods. They should
ideally purchase a certified product like ISI or
AGMARK.
• Right to Choose- Consumer should have the right to
choose from a variety of goods and in a competitive
price.
• Right to be informed- The buyers should be informed
with all the necessary details of the product, make

her/him act wise, and change the buying decision.
• Right to Consumer Education- Consumer should be
aware of his/her rights and avoid exploitation. Ignorance

can cost them more.
• Right to be heard- This means the consumer will get
due attention to express their grievances at a suitable

forum.
• Right to seek compensation- The defines that the
consumer has the right to seek redress against unfair and

inhumane practices or exploitation of the consumer.
The Responsibilities of the Consumer
• Responsibility to be aware – A consumer has to be
mindful of the safety and quality of products and services
before purchasing.
• Responsibility to think independently– Consumer
should be well concerned about what they want and need
and therefore make independent choices.
• Responsibility to speak out- Buyer should be fearless to
speak out their grievances and tell traders what they
exactly want
• Responsibility to complain- It is the consumer’s
responsibility to express and file a complaint about their
dissatisfaction with goods or services in a sincere and
fair manner.
• Responsibility to be an Ethical Consumer- They
should be fair and not engage themselves with any
deceptive practice.
Consumer Protection Act, 2019
The new Consumer Protection Act was passed by Parliament
in 2019. It came into force in July 2020 and replaced the
Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
Enactment August 9, 2019

Date:
Act Year: 2019
Short Title: The Consumer Protection Act, 2019
Long Title: An Act to provide for protection of the interests of
consumers and for the said purpose, to establish
authorities for timely and effective administration and
settlement of consumers’ disputes and for matters
connected therewith or incidental thereto
Ministry: Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public
Distribution
Department: Department of Consumer Affairs
Need for the new act:
• The Digital Age has ushered in a new era of commerce
and digital branding, as well as a new set of customer
expectations. Digitisation has provided easy access, a
large variety of choices, convenient payment
mechanisms, improved services and shopping as per
convenience. However, there are also associated
challenges related to consumer protection.
Details:
• Consumer Protection Act, 2019 is a law to protect the
interests of the consumers. This Act provides safety to
consumers regarding defective products, dissatisfactory
services, and unfair trade practices.
• The basic aim of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 is to
save the rights of the consumers by establishing
authorities for timely and effective administration and
settlement of consumers’ disputes.
• The new act will be swift and less time consuming
compared to the older Consumer Protection Act,
1986 in which single-point access to justice was given
making it a time-consuming exercise.
o The old act provided for a three-tier consumer

dispute redressal machinery at the National
(National Consumer Disputes Redressal
Commission), State and District levels.
• The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 establishes
the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA)
whose primary objective will be to promote, protect and
enforce the rights of consumers.
o It is empowered to:
▪ Conduct investigations into violations of

consumer rights and institute
complaints/prosecution.
▪ Order recall of unsafe goods and services.
▪ Order discontinuance of unfair trade
practices and misleading advertisements.
▪ Impose penalties on
manufacturers/endorsers/publishers of
misleading advertisements.
• Rules on E-commerce and Unfair Trade
Practices: The government will notify the Consumer
Protection (E-commerce) Rules, 2020 under the Act
whose broad provisions are given below.
o E-commerce entities are required to provide

information to consumers, relating to return,
refund, exchange, warranty and guarantee,
delivery and shipment, modes of payment,
grievance redressal mechanism, payment
methods, security of payment methods, charge-
back options and country of origin.
▪ These are necessary for enabling the

consumer to make an informed
decision at the pre-purchase stage.
o These platforms will have to acknowledge the
receipt of any consumer complaint within 48
hours and redress the complaint within one
month from the date of receipt. They will also
have to appoint a grievance officer for consumer
grievance redressal.
o The Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules,
2020 are mandatory and are not advisories.
o Sellers cannot refuse to take back goods or
withdraw services or refuse refunds, if such
goods or services are defective, deficient,
delivered late, or if they do not meet the
description on the platform.
o The rules also prohibit the e-commerce
companies from manipulating the price of the
goods or services to gain unreasonable profit
through unjustified prices.
• Product Liability:
o A manufacturer or product service provider or

product seller will be held responsible to
compensate for injury or damage caused by
defective product or deficiency in services
o Basis for product liability action:
▪ Manufacturing defect.
▪ Design defect.
▪ Deviation from manufacturing
specifications.
▪ Not conforming to express warranty.
▪ Failing to contain adequate instructions for
correct use.
▪ Service provided-faulty, imperfect or
deficient.
• Punishment for Manufacture or Sale of
Adulterated/Spurious Goods:
o In case of the first conviction, a competent court
may suspend any licence issued to the person for
a period of up to two years and in case of second
or subsequent conviction, may cancel the licence
permanently.
• Alternate Dispute Resolution Mechanism of
Mediation:
o A complaint will be referred by a Consumer

Commission for mediation, wherever scope for
early settlement exists and parties agree for it.
o The mediation will be held in the Mediation
Cells which will be established under the aegis of
the Consumer Commissions.
o There will be no appeal against settlement
through mediation.
• Simplification of the Consumer Dispute
Adjudication Process:
o Empowering the State and District

Commissions to review their own orders.
o Enabling a consumer to file complaints
electronically and in consumer commissions that
have jurisdiction over the place of his residence.
o Video-conferencing for hearing and deemed
admissibility of complaints if the question of
admissibility is not decided within the specified
period of 21 days.
• Other Rules and Regulations:
o As per the Consumer Disputes Redressal
Commission Rules, there will be no fee for filing
cases up to Rs. 5 lakh.
o The credit of the amount due to unidentifiable
consumers will go to the Consumer Welfare
Fund (CWF).
o State Commissions will furnish information to the
Central Government on a quarterly basis on
vacancies, disposal, the pendency of cases and
other matters.
o Apart from these general rules, there are Central
Consumer Protection Council Rules, provided
for the constitution of the Central Consumer
Protection Council (CCPC).
▪ It will be an advisory body on consumer

issues, headed by the Union Minister of
Consumer Affairs, Food and Public
Distribution with the Minister of State as
Vice Chairperson and 34 other members
from different fields.
▪ It will have a three-year tenure and will
have Minister-in-charge of consumer affairs
from two States from each region- North,
South, East, West, and North-East Region.

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Every year on March 15 World Consumer Rights Day is

with all the necessary details of the product, make

aware of his/her rights and avoid exploitation. Ignorance

due attention to express their grievances at a suitable

consumer has the right to seek redress against unfair and

Enactment August 9, 2019

o The old act provided for a three-tier consumer

▪ Conduct investigations into violations of

o E-commerce entities are required to provide

▪ These are necessary for enabling the

o A manufacturer or product service provider or

o A complaint will be referred by a Consumer

o Empowering the State and District

▪ It will be an advisory body on consumer

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