Consumer Protection Act

Amid the growing debate and confusion between natural and lab-grown diamonds, the CCPA, recognizing customer concerns, held a meeting on November

"We undertake to repair/replace all material and manufacturing defects within the warranty period." The National Commission concluded this made it equally responsible for repair or replacement

The notice, issued on October 3, cites the 'potential violation' of key provisions of Consumer Protection Act, 2019

Over 50,000 cases related to real estate are pending in consumer courts, according to the government data. In a written reply to Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Food and Consumer Affairs B L Verma informed about the details of cases pending in consumer commissions relating to real estate. As per the data, there have been 2,44,813 cases filed in consumer courts at national, state and district levels. Out of that 1,94,555 cases have been disposed and 50,258 cases are pending as on July 31, 2024. "The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 provides for three tier quasi-judicial machinery at district, state and central levels commonly known as 'Consumer Commissions' for protection of the rights of consumers and to provide simple and speedy redressal of consumer disputes," Verma said. The Act provides for simplification of the adjudication process in the consumer commissions; filing of a complaint by a consumer in the consumer commission; virtual hearing; deemed admissibility of complaints if .

Advocates cannot be held liable under the Act; profession should be distinguished from business: Apex court

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) has decided to hear the consumer dispute cases on a hybrid mode on a pilot basis from April 15 onwards. In its latest practice direction issued on April 10, the NCDRC said that the national commission will conduct the hybrid mode hearings (physical/video conferencing) of the cases from its premise. The consumer affairs ministry in a post on X said that it is a significant step towards easing consumers' experience in seeking resolution of their consumer cases. The VC/hybrid hearing links for all the benches will be provided on NCDRC cause list for the convenience of the counsel and parties. "Hence, there is no need to send a VC link to the counsel/parties by the national commission," the commission said. It added that the counsel and parties should have a minimum internet connection of 2 Mbps. The counsel representing the case and parties appearing in person can join the VC/hybrid hearing of the concerned bench at the ite

At least 74% consumers had reached out for action on defective products, of which, only 21% got a product replacement or refund

The government-promoted Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) is at present operational in over 500 cities and towns across India, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. ONDC is an initiative of the Commerce and Industry Ministry to create a facilitative model to help small retailers take advantage of digital commerce. It is not an application, platform, intermediary or software but a set of specifications designed to foster open, unbundled, and interoperable open networks. "ONDC is currently operational in more than 500 cities and towns across India," Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Parkash said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. All existing laws and regulations of India, related to e-commerce, are applicable to ONDC and the network participants on the ONDC network. Replying to a separate question, he said to safeguard consumers from unfair trade practices in e-commerce, the Department of Consumer Affairs has also notified the Consumer Protection (E-commerce)

These are tactics used by online platforms to manipulate or heavily influence customers to make certain choices

In a letter to industry and retail associations and manufacturers of white goods, Rohit Kumar Singh, secretary to the government, has advised them to revise the policy of warranty

Traders' body CAIT on Wednesday flagged the "inordinate delay" in the roll-out of a national e-commerce policy and consumer protection rules, saying the delay in their implementation has provided an opportunity to certain foreign e-commerce players to damage domestic retail trade. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) sent a written communication in this regard to Minister for Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Textiles, Piyush Goyal on Tuesday. In a statement on Wednesday, the traders' body expressed "utter dismay over inordinate delay in rolling out of e-commerce policy and rules under Consumer Protection Act" and equated it to a "slow poison situation" for the country's business community. In the letter to Goyal, CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said the delay in the implementation "has caused irreparable loss to the small and medium retail traders and has resulted in deep loss of turnover in their business and thousands of .

The Consumer Affairs dept advised online platform to not engage in 'unfair trade practices' by incorporating dark patterns in their online interface to manipulate consumer choice

The Supreme Court on Monday said the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, is meant to encourage consumerism in the country and any technical approach in construing its provisions against consumers would defeat the objective behind its enactment. A bench of justices J K Maheshwari and M M Sundresh said a "pedantic and hyper-technical approach" would cause damage to the very concept of consumerism. The apex court's observations came while dealing with appeals against a National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) order passed in a matter relating to completion of a housing project. The bench said the Consumer Protection Act has got a "laudable objective" and the 2019 law facilitates consumers to approach forums by providing a very flexible procedure. "It is meant to encourage consumerism in the country. Any technical approach in construing the provisions against the consumer would go against the very objective behind the enactment," it said. The bench noted that the appellant .

ONDC is a network enabler and not a platform, and therefore it has systematically worked towards adding more network participants, merchants, cities and transactions (orders per day) to the network

The industry representatives agreed on the importance of education for influencers and creators, as well as the role of influencer marketing in advertising, said the department

The Supreme Court said on Thursday the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 is a "social benefit-oriented" legislation and courts have to adopt a constructive, liberal approach while construing the provisions of this law. The apex court said the law meets long-felt necessity of protecting the common man from such wrong for which the remedy under ordinary law for various reasons has become "illusory" and the importance of the Act lies in promoting welfare of the society by enabling the consumer to participate directly in the market economy. A bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and C T Ravikumar made these observations while delivering its judgement on a batch of appeals filed by an insurance firm against the December 2004 verdict of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC) which had held that a person who takes insurance policy to cover the envisaged risk does not take the policy for the commercial purpose. Elaborating on the facts of the case, the top court noted a vehicle

The US has green codes defined by the Federal Trade Commission to prevent consumers from misleading marketing claims

Under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, the department of consumer affairs has powers to penalise companies for misleading ads and unfair trade practices

Also calls for greater cooperation among enforcement agencies of member countries

A senior government official indicated that the Center is making every effort to manage the prices of basic commodities through the Price Monitoring Division