Celebs face up to 3-yr ban and Rs 5 mn fine for misleading ads in new bill

However, no penalty will be slapped if publishers prove that the ad was published in the ordinary course of their business

Instead of a jail term, celebrities endorsing misleading ads will have to pay penalty of up to Rs 5 million and serve a ban of up to three years once the new Consumer Protection Bill is cleared by Parliament.

The Consumer Protection Bill, 2018, was introduced by Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan in the Lok Sabha and it seeks to replace the 31-year-old law.

One of the major objectives of the Bill is to crack down on misleading advertisements.

If the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), proposed to be set up under the Bill, is satisfied that an advertisement is false or