Intro and Importance of Consumer Protection

Gone are the days of “Caveat Emptor” now it is “Consumer is King”.

There are no dearth of sellers who wish to fulfil all of the consumer’s

demands, and cannot afford to alienate consumers with bad service or

products. Consumers have tools at their disposal such as consumer

complaints, courts, forums etc. Let us take a look at consumer

protection in India.

Introduction to Consumer Protection

A consumer is the one who assumes to be treated like a King as they

bring business to the seller. Previously “consumer was asked to

beware” but these days fingers have been pointed to seller “let seller

be beware” as due to policies introduced, government laws, consumer

protection, NGO and the increased competition in the market.

Consumer Protection is a term given to a practice wherein we need to

protect the consumer from the unfair practice, educating them about

their rights and responsibilities and also redressing their grievances.

Browse more Topics under Consumer Protection

● Consumer Protection Act

● Consumer Rights/Responsibilities

● Legal Protection to Consumers

● Consumer Organisations and NGOs

Why do Consumers need to be Protected?

There are n number of products in the market which are injurious to

the health of the consumer, adulteration, false weights, monopoly and

unfair trade practice are some of the issues that need to be tackled and

are to be addressed to protect the consumer against it.

How do we Protect the Consumer?

● The consumer should be educated on their rights and

responsibilities

● Their grievances should be redressed

● The judicial body requires to provide them with the justice.

Importance of Consumer Protection

I. Importance from Consumer Point of View

● Consumer Ignorance: Consumer when seeing it from their

point of view then we have gathered some aspects to it. Of

which, Consumer Ignorance needs to be taken care of they

should know how to exercise their rights and how to seek

reliefs.

● Unorganised Consumer: We need a Consumer Organisation

which can unify the consumers and help them seek relief with

their consumer issues.

● Widespread Exploitation of Consumer: Consumer is been

exploited through the ways of adulteration, false practice, fake

weights, incomplete information on packaged products,

Misleading Advertisements. For instance, there are many

products that claim to make you fair or reduce your weight but

when you use the products it does not provide what is

promised.

II. Importance from Business Point of View

Do business really need to consider consumer protection, is there a

way which can benefit them as well? Let us have a look at some of the

points which provide us with some insight :

● Long-Term Interest of Business: If one wants to increase their

customer base in long-term then they need to make a satisfied

customer. A satisfied customer with their word of mouth would

make more customer and increase the consumer base.

● Business uses society’s Resources: Business should not hamper

consumer confidence as most of the resources taken from the

society. In turn, business keeps in mind public interest and

provide products accordingly.

● Social Responsibility: Business have responsibilities towards

the consumer, government bodies and society and they should

work in a way which should be beneficial to them and the

business as in return it will flourish their business.

● Moral Justice: Business has a moral duty to the society and

consumer and they should take steps which should not hamper

the society or consumer. They should prevent any sort of

exploitation like adulteration, unfair practices, defective

product, fair price and weight.

● Government Intervention: To avoid the situation of government

intervention in the business which could be a hectic task. For

that business should design their trade practice in such a way

which would be in the interest of the consumer.

Consumer Complaints

Consumer Complaints are the first step of redressal that the customer

takes in the process of consumer protection. Hence this is the most

important step that the businesses need to handle with extreme care

and dexterity. And in the times of the internet consumer complaints

and feedback has more power than ever

Consumer complaints can actually help an organization improve their

products and services. It is a great form of feedback. It gives you a

very fair measure of customer satisfaction. And if consumer

complaints are dealt with swiftly it actually helps with customer

retention and even improves the goodwill of your company.

So instead of treating consumer complaints as a hindrance or a

headache, organizations can treat it as a way to bring about

improvement and grow their consumer base.

Solved Question for You

Question: What are the ways and means of Consumer Protection?

Ans: The various ways and means of Consumer Protection are:

● Self Regulation

● Consumer Organisations

● Consumer Awareness

● Business Associations

● Government

Consumer Protection Act

With changing times the economic and business environment of India

also went through a change. In the 1980s and 1990s, we opened our

economy and truly became a global trading partner with the world.

This exposed customers to new products but also new problems. And

we finally introduced the Consumer Protection Act to safeguard

consumers. Let us take a look.

Consumer Protection Act

Consumer Protection Act has been implemented(1986) or we can

bring into existence to protect the rights of a consumer. It protects the

consumer from exploitation that business practice to make profits

which in turn harm the well being of the consumer and society.

This right help to educate the consumer on the right and

responsibilities of being a consumer and how to seek help or justice

when faced exploitation as a consumer. It teaches the consumer to

make right choices and know what is right and what is wrong.

Learn more about the Consumer Organisation and NGOs here in

detail.

Who is a consumer according to the Consumer Protection Act, 1986?

A consumer is one that buys good for consumption and not for the

resale or commercial purpose. The consumer also hires service for

consideration.

Browse more Topics under Consumer Protection

● Intro & Importance of Consumer Protection

● Consumer Rights/Responsibilities

● Legal Protection to Consumers

● Consumer Organisations and NGOs

Practices to be followed by Business under Consumer Protection Act

● If any defect found the seller should remove the mentioned

defects from the whole batch or the goods affected. For

example, there have been cases where car manufacturing unit

found a defect in parts of the vehicle usually they remove the

defect from every unit or they call of the unit.

● They should replace the defective product with a nondefective

product and that product should be of similar configuration or

should be the same as the product purchased.

Read about Consumer Rights and Responsibilities here.

Redressal: Three Tier System Under Consumer Act

● District Forum: These fora are set by the district of the state

concerned in each district wherein it consists of President and

two members of which one should be a woman and is

appointed by the State Government. In this, the complaining

party should not make a complaint more than 20 Lacs and once

the complaint is filed the goods are sent for testing and if they

found defective the accused party should compensate and if the

party is dissatisfied can make an appeal with state commission

within 30 days.

● State Commission: This is set up by each state It consists of

President and two members. Complains should be at least 20

lacs and exceed not more than 1 crore. The goods are sent for

testing and if found defective are asked for replacement or

compensation. If not satisfied can make an appeal within 30

days in front of the National Commission.

● National Commission: Consist of President and 4 members.

The complaint must exceed an amount of 1 crore. The goods

are sent for testing and if found defective are asked for

replacement or compensation

Solved Question for You

Question: What do you mean by ‘consumer’ with reference to

Consumer Protection Act 1986. Explain its salient features of

Consumer Protection Act?

Ans. According to the Act, a consumer’s definition is who:

● buys goods or hires any service

● uses the goods or hires any service with the approval of any

buyer or service provider

● uses goods and services to earn a livelihood by

self-employment.

The salient features of Consumer Protection Act are-

■ The Consumer Protection Act covers all public, private and

cooperative sector.

■ This applies to all the goods and services until and unless the

Union government exempts it.

■ Provisions of the Consumer Protection Act are compensatory in

nature.

Consumer Awareness, Consumer Rights and Responsibilities

Consumer Awareness is an act of making sure the buyer or consumer

is aware of the information about products, goods, services, and

consumers rights. Consumer awareness is important so that buyer can

take the right decision and make the right choice. Consumers have the

right to information, right to choose, right to safety. Let us learn more

about Consumer rights, responsibilities and consumer awareness in

detail.

Consumer Rights and Responsibilities

Consumer Rights is an insight into what rights consumer holds when it

comes to seller which provide the goods. What if the goods provided

to the consumer by the business is not up to the standard? Then in that

case – what should a consumer do? To be precise, what rights

consumer have is in the court of law to fight against the malpractices

of the business firms or seller.

Browse more Topics under Consumer Protection

● Intro & Importance of Consumer Protection

● Consumer Protection Act

● Legal Protection to Consumers

● Consumer Organisations and NGOs

Consumer Rights

● Right to Safety: This is the first and the most important of the

Consumer Rights. They should be protected against the product

that hampers their safety. The protection must be against any

product which could be hazardous to their health – Mental,

Physical or many of the other factors.

● Right to Information: They should be informed about the

product. The product packaging should list the details which

should be informed to the consumer and they should not hide

the same or provide false information.

● Right to Choose: They should not be forced to select the

product. A consumer should be convinced of the product he is

about to choose and should make a decision by himself. This

also means consumer should have a variety of articles to

choose from. Monopolistic practices are not legal.

● Right to Heard: If a consumer is dissatisfied with the product

purchased then they have all the right to file a complaint

against it. And the said complaint cannot go unheard, it must be

addressed in an appropriate time frame.

● Right to Seek Redressal: In case a product is unable to satisfy

the consumer then they have the right to get the product

replaced, compensate, return the amount invested in the

product. We have a three-tier system of redressal according to

the Consumer Protection Act 1986.

● Right to Consumer Education: Consumer has the right to know

all the information and should be made well aware of the rights

and responsibilities of the government. Lack of Consumer

awareness is the most important problem our government must

solve.

Learn more about Intro and Importance of Consumer Protection here

in detail.

Responsibilities of a Consumer

The consumer has a certain responsibility to carry as an aware

consumer can bring changes in the society and would help other

consumers to fight the unfair practice or be aware of it.

● They should be aware of their rights under the Consumer

Protection Act and should practice the same in case of need.

● They should be well aware of the product they are buying.

Should act as a cautious consumer while purchasing the

product.

● If in case a product is found of anything false or not

satisfactory a complaint should be filed.

● The consumer should ask for a Cash Memo while making a

purchase.

● A customer should check for the standard marks that have been

introduced for the authenticity of the quality of the product like

ISI or Hallmark etc.

What Is the Meaning of Consumer Awareness?

Consumer Awareness is the process of making the consumer of goods

and services aware of his rights. It involves educating a consumer

about safety, information and the redressal options available to him.

As previously discussed consumer awareness is one of the most

persistent problems the government faces when it comes to consumer

protection. To resolve this problem the government has come up with

various methods over the years. In fact, it is the main aim of the

Department of Consumer Affairs.

Consumer Awareness in India

One of the most important and successful Consumer Awareness

campaign in recent times has been the “Jago Grahak Jago” campaign.

You must have certainly come across it. It is a great example of

successful consumer awareness.

Learn more about Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (COPRA) here.

Solved Question for You

Question: Explain the following rights: (a) The right to safety (b)The

right to consumer education.

Ans: Let us take a look at the two rights:

● The right to safety: It refers to the right to be protected against

products, production processes and services that endanger the

physical health or well being of the consumer.

● The right to consumer education: It refers to a right that

protects the consumer from various large companies of the

products and services they sell. It is basically about informing

people and giving them the required knowledge for living in a

consumer society. These rights and exercises must be followed

by every consumer.

Legal Protection to Consumers

Till the 1970s there was unchecked consumer mistreatment happening

in India. Black marketing, monopolistic practices, adulteration of food

were all commonplace. However, the consumer movement brought

about a change in the scenario. The government too provided

consumers legal protection through various laws and setting up of

consumer court. Let us take a look.

Legal Protection to Consumers

To protect consumer on legal terms, Court of Law i.e. Consumer

Court has laid down certain acts to protect the consumers on legal

grounds. This Legal Protection keeps intact the right of the consumer

which when acted will provide them justice against any dissatisfaction

created by the sellers/business/manufacturer.

This legal Indian framework by Consumer Court also consists of large

number of regulations that are maintained strictly for the protection of

consumers. Some of these regulations are followed as stated below –

Browse more Topics under Consumer Protection

● Intro & Importance of Consumer Protection

● Consumer Protection Act

● Consumer Rights/Responsibilities

● Consumer Organisations and NGOs

Laws to Protect Consumers

The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (COPRA)

● In this, it protects the right of the consumer and makes user

aware of their rights.

● They have developed or formed three-tier system wherein there

is District Forums, State Commission, and National

Commission thus to protect the right of the consumer.

Indian Contract Act, 1972

● They lay down the conditions in which the parties promise each

other of the services to be provided and agree on certain

terms.The contract is made that is binding on each other.

● They protect the interest that the contract is not breached and in

case if breached the remuneration to be provided.

The Sales of Good Act, 1930

● To ensure the consumer rights in case the goods offered to the

consumer is not up to the standard which was promised and the

false claim was made.

The Essential Commodities Act, 1955

● To keep track of the commodities which are essential and

monitor their production and supply. Also keep a track of any

hoarders, black marketers,

The Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marking ) Act, 1937

● To implement the grading standard and hence monitoring the

same whether standard checks are been done to issue the

grading. In this, AGMARK is the standard introduced for

agricultural goods.

The Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954

● This act makes sure the purity of the food items and the health

of the consumers which could be affected by the adulterated

items.

The Standards of Weights and Measures Act, 1976

● The Standards of Weights and Measures Act protects the right

against the goods which is underweight or under measured.

The Trade Marks Act, 1999

● This act protects users from false marks which could mislead

the consumer and hence cheat them in the ground of quality of

the product.

The Competition Act, 2002

● The Competition Act replaced from the Monopolies and the

Restrictive Trade Practices Act following to take action against

the firms which use such practice which in turn affect the

competition in the market.

The Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 1986

● The Bureau of Indian Standards Act ensures about the quality

of the product to be used by the consumer and have introduced

BIS Mark to certify the quality of the product and have set up

grievance cell which can take complaints regarding the quality

of the product.

Consumer Court

Consumer Courts are special courts set up by the Indian Judiciary to

settle consumer grievances and entertain consumer problems. A

special consumer court is set up to ensure that justice is done quickly

and efficiently, without undue hardship to the complainant. Also to

handle the sheer number of cases, the consumer courts help lessen the

burden on the judiciary system.

Another major advantage that the consumer court offers is that the

whole process is fairly simple. One does not even need to hire a

lawyer or any legal professional for the hearing if he thinks it is not

required. Self-representation is possible in a consumer court. Right

from submitting a complaint to the process of hearing all procedures

are kept simple and uncomplicated.

Solved Question for You

Question: What do you mean by The Competition Act, 2002?

Ans: The Competition Act, 2002 has been replaced by the Monopolies

and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969. It provides protection to the

consumers in case of any practices that have been adopted by the

business firms in which it hampers the competition in the market. It

takes action against the firms which use such practice which in turn

affect the competition in the market.

Consumer Organisations and NGOs

As they say “Consumer is King” and he must also be treated as one.

Businesses need to realize that while they are replaceable, consumers

are not. The exploitation of consumers by companies that only chase

the profit maximization motive needs to stop. India even has a

Department of Consumer Affairs and many other organizations and

NGOs in pursuit of consumer protection. Let us take a look.

Consumer Organisations

To fight this bad element of the business firms, the consumer needs to

stand together against them and fight for their right. Already there are

various Non-Profit Organizations who are working towards these

consumer affairs – Consumer Guidance Society of India, Common

Cause and Voice. These organizations are dealing with the concerns

faced by consumers. They have been adopting various measures to

achieve this. Following are the listed measures :

● Seminars: Seminars are been conducted and even various talk

shows are aired on TV and radio. These focus on the issues

being faced by the consumer and how the business firm are

neglecting the consumer interest and other such consumer

affairs

● Print Media: Print Media has been utilized by making

brochures, flyers, and advertisements and through this medium,

they educate the consumer about their rights and

responsibilities.

● Quality Test: Quality tests are being conducted by the

organization after which they release the result and educate the

consumer with the quality of the product that consumers have

been using since ages. For instance, Maggi Noodles which was

popular since ages and was consumed in large numbers but

then it turned out that it contained led which was harmful to

● Boycotting Goods: They bring consumer true results of quality

of a product and hence ask the consumer to boycott the

unhealthy or defective product. This helps in capturing media

attention as well.

● Legal Assistance: These consumer bodies help the consumer by

providing legal advice to them or any aid required so that they

know their rights and how they can fight against odds. There

are legal professionals who also offer their expertise pro-bono.

● Filing Complaints: They also act as a medium wherein they file

a complaint, file petition in the court of law on behalf of the

consumer to help them in getting justice.

● Initiative in Public Interest: They also file cases for the general

users rather than any individuals and achieve justice.

● Protesting: They start a protest on various issues which could

hamper a consumer and those issues could be the adulteration

of food, unnecessary rise in price, underweight product sell, a

damaged product sold etc.,

Browse more Topics under Consumer Protection

● Intro & Importance of Consumer Protection

● Consumer Protection Act

● Consumer Rights/Responsibilities

● Legal Protection to Consumers

NGOs helping with Consumer Affairs

● Common Cause, Delhi

● Consumer Coordination Council Delhi

● VOICE Delhi

● CERC Ahmedabad

● CGSI Mumbai

● Mumbai Grahak Panchayat

● Karnataka Consumer Service Society

Solved Question for You

Question: Name any two Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO’s)

which are working in India to protect and promote the consumer

interests?

Ans: The two Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO’s) which are

working in India to protect and promote the consumer interests are:

● Voluntary Organisation in Interest of Consumer Education

(VOICE), Delhi

● Consumer Guidance Society of India (CGSI), Mumbai