The Consumer Protection Bill, 2019 passed in Lok Sabha

The Consumer Protection Bill, 2019 was passed in Lok Sabha on Tuesday July 30, 2019. The Bill proposes setting up of the Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (CCPA) and forums at the District, State and National levels for adjudicating consumer complaints. The above Bill once becomes law (after passing in Rajya Sabha and President of India’s approval signature) replaces the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
Key features of the Bill are:-
• Central Consumer Protection Authority(CCPA is a national level regulator dealing with matters relating to the violation of rights of consumers, unfair trade practices and false or misleading advertisements which are prejudicial to the interests of public and consumers.
• CCPA deals with the rights of consumers as a class. It will have an investigation wing headed by a Director-General and has powers of search and seizure. The District Collector is empowered to report to the CCPA regarding mass consumer complaints in the concerned jurisdiction.
• CCPA has the power to impose penalties on manufacturers and celebrity endorsers for misleading advertisements. The endorser can be levied with a penalty up to rupees ten lakhs for false and misleading advertisements, under Clause 21. However, the endorser will not be liable if he has exercised due diligence to verify the veracity of the claims made in the advertisement regarding the product or service being endorsed by him.
• The bill proposes setting up of the Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission and forums at the District, State and National levels for adjudicating consumer complaints.
• Enhanced pecuniary jurisdiction
(i) The limits of pecuniary jurisdiction has been expanded in the following manner:-
(ii) District Forum:- Rs.One Crore from Rs. Twenty Lakhs
(iii) State Commission: – Rs. Ten Crores from Rs. One Crore
(iv) National Commission:- Above Rs. Ten Crores from Rs.One Crore
• The Bill mandates the Consumer Forum and Commissions to explore mediation possibilities before adjudicating the complaint.
• The Bill incorporates a special chapter-Chapter VI- to deal with ‘product liability’. As per Clause 2(34) “product liability” means the responsibility of a product manufacturer or product seller, of any product or service, to compensate for any harm caused to a consumer by such defective product manufactured or sold or by a deficiency in services relating thereto;
• The Bill expands the definition of ‘deficiency’ in Clause 2(11) to include:
(i) Any act of negligence or omission or commission by such person which causes loss or injury to the consumer; and
(ii) Deliberate withholding of relevant information by such person to the consumer;
• The Bill makes violation of consumer rights punishable offences and has Chapter VII dealing with them as follows:-.
(i) Misleading advertisements are made punishable.
(ii) The Bill also addresses the menace of adulteration, by making manufacture, sale, storage of products mixed with adulterants punishable offences.
(iii) Cognizance of offence can be taken by a court only on a complaint filed by CCPA.
(iv) The Bill also contains expanded definitions for “unfair trade practise” and “unfair contracts” under Clauses 2(47) and 2(46) respectively.
(v) The Central Government is empowered to make rules to regulate direct selling, multi-level marketing, e-commerce, tele-shopping etc.