The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 Adv. Anwesha Ghosh BASICS OF LAW Wed, Jul 22, 2020, at ,11:06 PM The deadly virus currently has been threatening our lives with a lot of challenges but amidst all these, we see a little ray of hope. No, I am not talking about the vaccine in this article but about the new Consumer Protection Act of 2019 which came into the picture in India on 20th July 2020. The Consumer Protection Bill, 2019 was introduced in Lok Sabha by the Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Mr Ram Vilas Paswan on July 8, 2019. It was approved and passed by Lok Sabha on 30 July 2019. Later it was passed in Rajya Sabha on 6 August 2019. Thereafter, the bill received assent from President Ram Nath Kovind on 9 August 2019 and was notified in The Gazette of India on the same date. The Act came into force only on 20 July 2020. Before talking about the Consumer Protection Bill 2019 or the subsequent Act, let us first consider why we need this Act in the first place. Consumer Protection Act, 2019 is a law to protect the interests and rights of the consumers. This act was inevitable to resolve a large number of pending consumer complaints in consumer courts across the country. It has ways and means to solve the consumer grievances speedily. Now, let us analyse how the consumers can get benefitted from the new Act and how is the new Act different from the Consumer Protection Act of 1986. In the case of Regulator, the Consumer Protection Act of 1986 (hereinafter will be referred to as Old Act) has no central regulator per se to protect, promote, and enforce the rights of consumers. Whereas in the Consumer Protection Act of 2019 (hereinafter will be referred to as New Act) there is a Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to regulate cases related to unfair trade practices, misleading advertisements, and violation of consumer rights. The CCPA will have the right to impose a penalty on the violators and passing orders to recall goods or withdraw services, discontinuation of the unfair trade practices, and reimbursement of the price paid by the consumers. The Central Consumer Protection Authority will also have an investigation arm to enquire and investigate such violations. The CCPA will be headed by the Director-General. The New Act has widened the definition of 'consumer'. The definition now includes any person who buys any goods, whether through offline or online transactions, electronic means, teleshopping, direct selling, or multi-level marketing. In the Old Act, filing of complaint generally took place in the consumer court at the jurisdiction of the place of purchase or where the seller has its registered office address but now under the new Act, a complaint can also be filed in a consumer court where the aggrieved consumer resides or works. The New Act enables consumers to file complaints electronically and for hearing and/or examining parties through video-conferencing. This is aimed to provide procedural ease and reduce inconvenience and harassment for the consumers. This facility was not there in the old Act. In the instances of product liability under the old Act aggrieved consumer could approach the civil court but not the consumer court but now under the new Act, an aggrieved consumer can seek compensation for harm caused by a product or service. The Pecuniary jurisdictions of the forum and commissions have also increased. Under the old Act it was up to ₹20 Lakh for District; ₹20 Lakh to ₹1 Cr for State and above ₹1 Cr for National. Whereas, in the New Act, the district forum can now entertain consumer complaints where the value of goods or services paid does not exceed ₹ 1 Cr; State Commission can entertain disputes where such value is ₹1 Cr to ₹10 Cr; National Commission can exercise jurisdiction where such value is above ₹10 Cr. Under the New Act, E-commerce will now be governed by all the laws that apply to direct selling. The guidelines suggest that platforms like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, etc will have to disclose sellers’ details, such as their address, website, email, etc, and other conditions related to refund, exchange, terms of the contract, and warranty on their website to increase transparency. The onus of ensuring that no fake products are sold on these platforms will also lie with the companies. If any such merchandise is reported or recognised as first copies of any original product then the company could be penalised. This move is appropriate since cases of counterfeit products sold through e-commerce platforms is extensive. In the old Act, no reference to mediation was there but the New Act provides for mediation as an Alternate Dispute Resolution mechanism, making the process of dispute adjudication simpler and quicker. Also, now there could be penalties for misleading advertisements. The CCPA (Central Consumer Protection Authority) may impose a penalty of up to ₹ 10 Lac on a manufacturer or an endorser, for a false or misleading advertisement and imprisonment for up to 2 years for the same. In case of a subsequent offence, the fine may extend to ₹ 50 Lac and imprisonment of up to 5 years. The Act streamlines consumer litigation and takes cognizance of evolving trends.