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Consumer Protection

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Consumer Protection

Consumer protection laws are designed to safeguard the interests of consumers and ensure that their rights are protected in case of any deficiency in the goods or services provided to them. In India, the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 is a significant legislation that aims to protect the interests of the consumers and to establish an efficient mechanism for the redressal of consumer disputes. Before the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 came into force, the interests of consumers were protected under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (“Act“). Both these Acts provide a comprehensive legal framework for the protection of consumer rights, such as the right to be informed, the right to choose, the right to be heard and the right to seek redressal.

People buy a variety of goods and services for their day-to-day activities. A person pays for what he wants to purchase and hopes to be satisfied with its consumption and use. Although, at times, satisfaction cannot be ensured with the products that are bought. This may be caused due to the poor quality of a product, overcharging a product, lower quantity of contents, misleading advertisements and on it goes. Malpractices can be averted with the concept and practice of consumer protection that highlights the rights and responsibilities of consumers including the legal provisions and mechanism for settlement of consumer grievances. In this article, we hope to enlighten consumers about the Consumer Protection Act of 1986 in detail.

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Features of the Act

The significant features of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) of 1986 are listed below.

  1. The Act applies to all the goods, services and unfair trade practices. Nothing is exempted unless explicitly done so by the Central Government.
  2. The Act covers all the sectors regardless of being private, public or co-operative.
  3. The Act provides the facility to establish consumer protection councils at the Central, State and District levels. This is ensured to promote and protect the rights of a consumer. Three-Tier quasi-judicial machinery is organised to deal with the grievances or disputes of consumers.
  4. The Act provides a statutory recognition to the all the reasonable rights of the consumer.

Need for Consumer Protection

The need for consumer protection arises from the need to protect consumers from the loss or injury or other prevailing malpractices. The Consumer Protection Act was implemented for the following reasons.

  1. To ensure the physical safety of a consumer.
  2. To protect against economic interests.
  3. To provide access to information.
  4. To ensure satisfactory product standards and statutory measures for redressal of grievances.
  5. To ensure social responsibility of producers and traders to provide quality and quantity of goods at fair prices.
  6. To increase the awareness about consumer rights and malpractices in business that can affect a consumer.
  7. To ensure consumer satisfaction.
  8. For the principle of social justice.
  9. For the principle of trusteeship
  10. For the survival and the growth of businesses.

Goods and Services Covered

The Act defines the term “goods” as any type of movable property other than money and includes shares and stocks, growing crops, etc. On the other hand, “Service” is defined as service of any description that is made available to potential consumers and includes sectors such as banking, housing construction, financing, entertainment, insurance, the supply of electrical and other energy, transport, boarding and lodging, amusement and so on. The services offered by professionals such as doctors, architects, engineers, lawyers etc. are included under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act of 1986.