New Delhi: The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 comes into force on Monday, replacing the more than 3-decade old Consumer Protection Act 1986. The new law aims to enforce and protect the rights of consumers, and provide an effective mechanism to address consumer grievances.
The Centre has notified rules for establishing Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), Central Consumer Protection Council, Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, mediation, product liability, and misleading advertisements, among others, under the Act.
Parliament last year approved 'The Consumer Protection Bill 2019', replacing the 1986 Act. The law seeks to revamp the process of administration and settlement of consumer disputes, with strict penalties, including jail term for adulteration and misleading ads by firms.
"The earlier law was time-consuming to provide justice to consumers. The new act has been introduced after many amendments to provide protection to buyers not only from traditional sellers but also from the new e-commerce retailers/platforms," Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan said.
Rules for implementation of the new law have been notified. However, rules on e-commerce and CCPA will be notified by the weekend and on direct selling will take some more time, the minister added.
Stating that the new law is "revolutionary", Paswan said, "It provides for setting up of the CCPA which will carry out inquiries and investigations in matters relating to consumer rights, unfair trade practices and misleading advertisements."
"Under the e-commerce rules, it has been made mandatory for etailers to display details about price, expiry date, 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," he said.