Consumer Protection (CPA) Amendment Act, 2019
The Consumer Protection Act,2019 comes in to force from today i.e. 20th July 2020. While briefing the media about the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 through video conference here today, the Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution Shri Ram Vilas Paswan said that this new Act will empower consumers and help them in protecting their rights through its various notified Rules and provisions like Consumer Protection Councils, Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions, Mediation, Product Liability and punishment for manufacture or sale of products containing adulterant / spurious goods.
He said that the Act includes the establishment of the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to promote, protect, and enforce the rights of consumers. The CCPA will be empowered to conduct investigations into violations of consumer rights and institute complaints/prosecution, order recalls of unsafe goods and services, order discontinuance of unfair trade practices and misleading advertisements, impose penalties on manufacturers/endorsers/publishers of misleading advertisements. Shri Paswan further said that the rules for the prevention of unfair trade practice by e-commerce platforms will also be covered under this Act. The gazette notification for the establishment of the Central Consumer Protection Authority and rules for the prevention of unfair trade practices in e-commerce are under publication.
Shri Paswan further said under this act every e-commerce entity is required to provide information relating to return, refund, exchange, warranty and guarantee, delivery and shipment, modes of payment, grievance redressal mechanism, payment methods, the security of payment methods, charge-back options, etc. including country of origin which are necessary for enabling the consumer to make an informed decision at the pre-purchase stage on its platform. He said that e-commerce platforms have to acknowledge the receipt of any consumer complaint within forty-eight hours and redress the complaint within one month from the date of receipt under this Act. He further added that the New Act introduces the concept of product liability and brings within its scope, the product manufacturer, product service provider, and product seller, for any claim for compensation.
Under this new Act, besides general rules, there are Central Consumer Protection Council Rules, Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission Rules, Appointment of President & Members in State/District Commission Rules, Mediation Rules, Model Rules and E-Commerce Rules and Consumer Commission Procedure Regulations, Mediation Regulations and Administrative control over State Commission & District Commission Regulations.
Shri Paswan said that the Central Consumer Protection Council Rulesare provided for constitution of the Central Consumer Protection Council, an advisory body on consumer issues, headed by the Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution with the Minister of State as Vice chairperson and 34 other members from different fields. The Council, which has a three-year tenure, will have Minister-in-charge of consumer affairs from two States from each region- North, South, East, West, and NER. There is also provision for having working groups from amongst the members for specific tasks.
Download the Consumer Protection (CPA) Amendment Act, 2019 in PDF format using the link given below.
