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The Consumer Protection Act was first implemented in 1986 in order to safeguard the consumer from the mishaps of the sellers, traders and manufacturers, it gives compensations to the consumer for their grievances. Basically, it protects the rights of the customers against any illegal trade practices they are subjected to. The primary motive that this forum possess is to eliminate lengthy lawsuits and put more pressure on the already burdened judiciary and bestow aid to both parties of the suit. It covers all goods and services manufactured by all the public, cooperative and private sectors sans the ones protected by the central government.

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It involves an easy process where a complaint is made to the redressal forum in order to record their grievance by a consumer, the forum then approaches the supplier and compensation are granted to the consumer after an informed decision is made by the officer in charge. 

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The consumer protection act was amended in 2019 and came to force on 20 July 2020, it now overhauls the settlement and administration of consumer disputes in India and overrules the previous enactment of 2015. This act has introduced strict penalties like jail terms for acts like adulteration or misrepresentation of goods through misleading advertisements. The most important addition to the new act is the prescription of the sale of goods through the means of E-commerce. This is of utmost importance because e-commerce is now ruling all over the world especially owing to the pandemic where transactions and sales have exclusively happened through e-commerce sites in order to reduce human contact which has helped people in curbing the pandemic without having to sacrifice buying necessary and other goods, e-commerce has been a great aid but regulating goods sold online sites are very important because the chances of fraudulent behaviour increase in this context. 

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The key highlights of the act are:

●      The new act has provisions for a system of e-filing which will allow the aggrieved consumer to file complaints from the comfort of his/her home. This addition was important especially in the wake of a pandemic where getting out of the house is dreaded. This will also help those who are unable to be physically present at the forum.

●    No fees are required for claims under 5 lakh rupees.

●    Appointing a lawyer to fight your case has now become optional. A consumer can do so himself online via video conferencing

●    A new notion of ‘product liability has been instigated by the new amendment which allows the aggrieved consumers to claim in redressal a significant amount of compensation if negligence has been done on the part of the service provider or the manufacturer.

●   Following the US model of joint class action suit similar model has been adopted by the Indian consumer forum which is done in order to save resources, money and increase chances of receiving redressal or settlement, now, a group of aggrieved consumers can file a class action suit together against a single manufacturer, service provider.

●     Production of spurious goods is not punishable with imprisonment.

●    Misleading advertisements have also been made punishable with imprisonment. The people promoting such goods have been provided immunity from imprisonment but can be barred from endorsements if the endorsement or advertisement is misleading. The CCPA is now allowed to impose a penalty worth 10 lakh and 2 years of imprisonment for false advertisement which can be extended up to 50 lakh rupees and 5 years of imprisonment in case of a subsequent offence.

●   E-commerce has been tightly regulated with the introduction of this act. Companies are now required to disclose all the relevant information regarding the product which was not necessary before, this information is inclusive of the country of origin. The e-commerce websites are also required to respond to the grievances presented by the consumers at a given time.

●     The new amendment encourages mediation which is the settling of the dispute through a neutral legal entity outside of court which saves time and resources of the parties at dispute which is a drawback of the formal mechanism.

●     The new amendment also protects several unprotected rights of the consumers including the right to safety, choice, redressal, information, the right to be educated, heard and to go through a settlement through mediation.

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Corporate entities will now have to bear extra care and caution with regard to quantity, quality and the safety of their product, also its endorsement. The corporate board which is responsible for the trade and manufacture of goods are now required to create a consumers affairs committee in order to review the complaints made by the consumers and to address them periodically.

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They will also be required to offer mediation settlements proactively through online mediation in order to save themselves from defending matters in remotely situated consumer courts in India which also brings along collateral damage in form of degradation of their reputation and brand image. 

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