New Delhi, July 18: Consumer Protection Act, passed by the Parliament in 2019, will come into effect from Monday, July 20. The new law aims at further protecting the interest of consumers and strengthening the mandate of consumer courts to take action against errant manufacturers, distributors and sellers. Here's How the Coupons and Cashback App ‘ShopSave’ is Helping Consumers in Making Profit.

The law will allow consumers to file complaints related to services or products at the consumer courts based in their district or state. Earlier, the consumer was allowed to file the complaint only at the court under whose jurisdiction the seller or manufacturer falls.

The Act increases the amount of compensation for consumers, while also making the punishment for errant sellers and producers more stringent. If a consumer is sold an adulterated or spurious product which has not harmed him, the compensation could be upto Rs 1 lakh along with six months of jail.

In case the consumer is damaged by the product, the compensation will be raised to upto Rs 5 lakh, and the jail-term could extend for upto seven years. If the consumer dies, then the compensation amount would be increased to Rs 10 lakh, and the prison term may range from seven years to upto life imprisonment.

All About Consumer Protection Act, 2019

Salient Features of the Bill

1.  Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA): Executive Agency to provide relief to a class of consumers. The CCPA will be empowered to-

  1. Conduct  investigations into violations of consumer rights and institute Complaints /Prosecution

  2. Order recall of unsafe goods and services

  3. Order discontinuance of Unfair Trade Practices and Misleading  Advertisements

  4. Impose penalties on Manufactures /Endorsers /Publishers of Misleading Advertisements

2.         Simplified Dispute Resolution process

i) Pecuniary Jurisdiction enhanced to-

  • District Commission –Up to Rs1 crore

  • State Commission- Between  Rs1 crore and Rs 10 crore

  • National Commission –Above Rs.10 crore

ii) Deemed admissibility after 21days of filing

iii) Empowerment of Consumer Commission to enforce their orders

iv) Appeals only on question of law after second stage

v) Ease of approaching consumer commission

  • Filing from place of residence

  • E-filing

  • Videoconferencing for hearing

3.         Mediation

  • An Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism

  • Reference to Mediation by Consumer Forum wherever scope for early settlement exists and parties agree for it.

  • Mediation cells to be attached to Consumer Forum

  • No appeal against settlement through mediation

4.         Product Liability

A manufacturer or product service provider or product seller to be responsible to compensate for injury or damage caused by defective product or deficiency in services

The Basis for product liability action will be:

  • Manufacturing  defect

  • Design defect

  • Deviation from manufacturing specifications

  • Not conforming to express warranty

  • Failing to contain adequate instruction for correct use

  • Services provided arefaulty, imperfect or deficient

New Bill- Benefit to Consumers

Presently Consumer only have a single point of access to justice, which is time consuming. Additional swift executive remedies are proposed in the bill through Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA)

Deterrent punishment to check misleading advertisements and adulteration of products.

Product liability provision to deter manufacturers and service providers from delivering defective products or deficient services. Ease of approaching Consumer Commission and Simplification of Adjudication process.

(With PIB inputs)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 18, 2020 03:51 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).