National Consumer Day

• Every Year 24th December is observed as National Consumer Day with a specific theme in India.
• On this day the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 had received the assent of the president.
• The enactment of this Act is considered as a historic milestone in the consumer movement in the country.

Consumer Protection Act 1986

• The Consumer Protection Act aims to provide consumers with effective safeguards against different types of exploitation such as defective goods, deficiency in services and unfair trade practices.
• Major Objectives

1. To promote and protect the rights of Consumer such as Right to:

• be protected against the marketing of goods and services which are hazardous to life and property.
• be informed about the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and price of goods or services, as the case may be so as to protect the consumer against unfair trade practices.
• be assured, wherever possible, access to a variety of goods and services at competitive prices.
• be heard and to be assured that consumer’s interest will receive due consideration at appropriate forums.
• seek redressal against unfair trade practices or restrictive trade practices or unscrupulous exploitation of consumers.
• to consumer education.

2. To provide speedy and simple redressal to consumer, a quasi - judicial machinery is sought to be set up at the district, State & Central level.

Consumer Protection Act 2019

• The Consumer Protection Act 2019 is in to force from 20th July 2020.
• The Act empower consumers and help them in protecting their rights through its various notified Rules and provisions like Consumer Protection Councils, Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions, Mediation, Product Liability and punishment for manufacture or sale of products containing adulterant / spurious goods.
• The Act includes establishment of the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers.
• The CCPA 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.
• Under this act every e-commerce entity is required to provide information relating to return, refund, exchange, warranty and guarantee, delivery and shipment, modes of payment, grievance redressal mechanism etc. including country of origin which are necessary for enabling the consumer to make an informed decision at the pre-purchase stage on its platform.
• Also, the e-commerce platforms have to acknowledge the receipt of any consumer complaint within forty-eight hours and redress the complaint within one month from the date of receipt under this Act.
• The Act introduces the concept of product liability and brings within its scope, the product manufacturer, product service provider and product seller, for any claim for compensation.