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Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan proposed the Consumer Protection Bill 2019 in the Lok Sabha on 30th July, 2019 which was passed unanimously by the House. The Bill seeks to replace the Consumer Protection Act 1986.
It seeks to establish a national level regulator, i.e. a Central Consumer Protection Authority, to deal with consumer complaints on a proactive basis. It has 109 clauses with its key provisions dealing with class actions, product liability, misleading advertisements, liability for celebrity endorsements, e-commerce, direct selling, telemarketing etc.
The Central Consumer Protection Authority is a national level regulator which deals with matters relating to violation of rights of consumers, unfair trade practices and false or misleading advertisements prejudicial to the interests of public and consumers. The CCPA will have an investigation wing headed by a Director General and also it will have powers of search and seizure. It also has the power to file complaints before the relevant Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum.
Misleading advertisements defined under Clause 2(28) as advertisement, can attract penalty upto rupees ten lakhs from the CCPA under Clause 21. It is a punishable offence punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years and with fine which may extend to fifty lakh rupees as per Clause 89.
Endorsement is defined under Clause 2(18) and the bill addresses the liability of the endorsers as well. The endorser can be levied with penalty up to rupees ten lakhs by the CCPA for false and misleading advertisements, under Clause 21 but will not be held liable if he has exercised due diligence to verify the veracity of the claims made in the advertisement.
Product Liability is dealt with in Chapter VI, a special chapter which the Bill incorporated. A product liability action may be brought by a complainant against a product manufacturer or a product service provider or a product seller, as the case may be, for any harm caused to him on account of a defective product.
Chapter VII of the Bill deals with violation of consumer rights which is a punishable offence. It also addresses adulteration by making manufacture, sale, and storage of products mixed with adulterants punishable offences. It also contains expanded definitions of "unfair trade practise" and "unfair contracts" under Clauses 2(47) and 2(46) respectively.
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