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Tag: Ram Vilas Paswan

  • Lok Sabha passes Consumer Protection Bill 2019

    Lok Sabha passes Consumer Protection Bill 2019

    MUMBAI: The Lok Sabha has passed the Consumer Protection Bill 2019 after due consideration and discussion. The Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan said that the bill aims at protecting the interests of consumers by establishing authorities for timely and effective administration and settlement of consumers’ dispute.

    Moving the bill, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Raosaheb Patil Danve said it aims to simplify a number of rules. Danve said consumers do not get quick redressal of their complaints and with the passage of the bill, consumers will be able to get speedy justice. He said the government aims to simplify the entire process of redressal of consumer grievances.

    Under the bill, there is provision for central government to set up a Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers and will be empowered to investigate, recall, refund and impose penalties. It will regulate matters related to violation of consumer rights, unfair trade practices, and misleading advertisements. There is also a provision for class action law suit for ensuring that rights of consumers are not infringed upon. The authority will have power to impose a penalty on a manufacturer or an endorser of up to Rs 10 lakh rupees and imprisonment for up to two years for a false or misleading advertisement. 

    Commenting on the development, Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) chairman D Shivakumar said, "This is a great development in favour of consumers and ASCI welcomes the passing of the new Consumer Protection Bill.  Protection of consumers’ interest is also ASCI’s core mission. As an expert body dealing with complaints pertaining to misleading advertisements, ASCI has been working closely with the Department of Consumer Affairs. Complaints being received on the GAMA portal are being examined by ASCI since the launch of the GAMA portal. We expect this co-regulation model to be strengthened further as per recommendations of the parliamentary standing committee."

    Salient features of the bill

    1.  Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA): Executive agency to provide relief to a class of consumers. The CCPA will be empowered to-

        Conduct  investigations into violations of consumer rights and institute complaints /prosecution
        Order recall of unsafe goods and services
        Order discontinuance of unfair trade practices and misleading  advertisements
        Impose penalties on manufactures /endorsers /publishers of misleading advertisements

    2.  Simplified dispute resolution process

    i) Pecuniary jurisdiction enhanced to-

        District Commission –Up to Rs 1 crore
        State Commission- Between  Rs 1 crore and Rs 10 crore
        National Commission –Above Rs 10 crore

    ii) Deemed admissibility after 21 days of filing

    iii) Empowerment of consumer commission to enforce their orders

    iv) Appeals only on question of law after second stage

    v) Ease of approaching consumer commission

        Filing from place of residence
        E-filing
        Video-conferencing for hearing 

    3.  Mediation

        An Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism
        Reference to mediation by consumer forum wherever scope for early settlement exists and parties agree for it.
        Mediation cells to be attached to consumer forum
        No appeal against settlement through mediation

    4.  Product liability

    A manufacturer or product service provider or product seller to be responsible to compensate for injury or damage caused by defective product or deficiency in services

    The basis for product liability action will be:

        Manufacturing  defect
        Design defect
        Deviation from manufacturing specifications
        Not conforming to express warranty
        Failing to contain adequate instruction for correct use
        Services provided arefaulty, imperfect or deficient

    New bill – benefit to consumers

    Presently consumers only have a single point of access to justice, which is time consuming. Additional swift executive remedies are proposed in the bill through Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA)

    Deterrent punishment to check misleading advertisements and adulteration of products

    Product liability provision to deter manufacturers and service providers from delivering defective products or deficient services

    Ease of approaching consumer commission and simplification of adjudication process

    Scope for early disposal of cases through mediation

    Provision for rules for new age consumer issues: e-commerce & direct selling

  • Minister hints Consumer Protection Bill passage next Parliament session

    Minister hints Consumer Protection Bill passage next Parliament session

    NEW DELHI. The Consumer Protection Bill 2015, seeking to amend the archaic Consumer Protection Act and make provisions for penalising misleading advertisements and celeb endorsers, could be enacted into a law in the next session of Parliament, which is likely to reconvene later this month.

    Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan indicated this while inaugurating the sixth edition of Massmerize 2016, FICCI’s annual flagship Retail, FMCG & E-Commerce Convention.

    Paswan said it was important for the industry to win the trust of the consumers and weed out companies indulging in misleading advertisements that often played with the health of the consumers. The onus, he said, was on industry to deliberate on this issue with seriousness and identify factors that are inimical to industry’s growth.

    Consumer Affairs Ministry sources, in the meanwhile, told  indiantelevision.com that the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee concerned were still under consideration and the Bill may be further amended if these recommendations are accepted.

    The three decades old Consumer Protection Act was seen as an inefficient piece of legislation, out of step with new market dynamics, multi-layered delivery chains, innovative and, often, misleading advertising and marketing machinery as earlier reported by indiantelevision.com.

    FICCI FMCG Committee Chairman and COO, ITC, Sanjiv Puri, gave the FMCG industry perspective, indicating that the FMCG sector which today stands at close to Rs 230,000 crore is expected to climb to Rs 600,000 crore by the end of the decade.

    Puri said that the food processing sector was today taxed at over 25% across the whole value chain and called for a much more moderate rate of tax in the GST regime. The losses in terms of revenue to the government will be compensated for by a widened tax base.  

    Tata Sons GEC member Harish Bhat said the march of digitalization was changing the consumer profile in the country as by 2020 close to 220 million consumers will be online shoppers, a six-fold increase from now. He added that the key consumer trends indicated that health and wellness were a major requirement of the consumers and digital connectivity was driving this demand. He suggested that industry and government come together to find innovative solutions to satisfy consumer demand.

    ALSO READ

    Misleading ads: Govt moots proposal to penalise celeb endorsers

     

  • Minister hints Consumer Protection Bill passage next Parliament session

    Minister hints Consumer Protection Bill passage next Parliament session

    NEW DELHI. The Consumer Protection Bill 2015, seeking to amend the archaic Consumer Protection Act and make provisions for penalising misleading advertisements and celeb endorsers, could be enacted into a law in the next session of Parliament, which is likely to reconvene later this month.

    Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan indicated this while inaugurating the sixth edition of Massmerize 2016, FICCI’s annual flagship Retail, FMCG & E-Commerce Convention.

    Paswan said it was important for the industry to win the trust of the consumers and weed out companies indulging in misleading advertisements that often played with the health of the consumers. The onus, he said, was on industry to deliberate on this issue with seriousness and identify factors that are inimical to industry’s growth.

    Consumer Affairs Ministry sources, in the meanwhile, told  indiantelevision.com that the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee concerned were still under consideration and the Bill may be further amended if these recommendations are accepted.

    The three decades old Consumer Protection Act was seen as an inefficient piece of legislation, out of step with new market dynamics, multi-layered delivery chains, innovative and, often, misleading advertising and marketing machinery as earlier reported by indiantelevision.com.

    FICCI FMCG Committee Chairman and COO, ITC, Sanjiv Puri, gave the FMCG industry perspective, indicating that the FMCG sector which today stands at close to Rs 230,000 crore is expected to climb to Rs 600,000 crore by the end of the decade.

    Puri said that the food processing sector was today taxed at over 25% across the whole value chain and called for a much more moderate rate of tax in the GST regime. The losses in terms of revenue to the government will be compensated for by a widened tax base.  

    Tata Sons GEC member Harish Bhat said the march of digitalization was changing the consumer profile in the country as by 2020 close to 220 million consumers will be online shoppers, a six-fold increase from now. He added that the key consumer trends indicated that health and wellness were a major requirement of the consumers and digital connectivity was driving this demand. He suggested that industry and government come together to find innovative solutions to satisfy consumer demand.

    ALSO READ

    Misleading ads: Govt moots proposal to penalise celeb endorsers

     

  • Govt partners industry bodies to curb misleading and fake ads

    Govt partners industry bodies to curb misleading and fake ads

    New Delhi: The Department of Consumer Affairs has entered into partnership with the industry associations ASSOCHAM, CII, DICCI, FICCI and PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry to implement a six point agenda to protect the rights of consumers against misleading advertisements, fake and counterfeit products, and for effective redressal of consumer complaints.

    An MOU in this regard will be signed tomorrow in the presence of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister Ram Vilas Paswan. 

    The MoU will broadly cover the collaborative programmes on developing and implementing a self-regulated code of fair business practices, establishing a consumer affairs division/vertical within the industry body, initiating advocacy action against unfair trade practices and preventing fake, counterfeit and sub-standard products and services and adoption of voluntary standards by Industry members.

    Earmarking of CSR funds for consumer awareness and protection activities, partnering with the National Consumer Helpline and State Consumer Helplines for grievance redressal; launching joint consumer awareness, education and training programmes under the “Jago Grahak Jago” will also be part of the agenda.

    A joint working group will monitor the implementation of agenda. 

    A self-regulation code of ethical business conduct and video spots on consumer advocacy by the industry bodies will also be released during the event.The joint initiatives of the government and the industry bodies will surely go a long way in protecting the interests of the consumers and will be a win-win situation for all the stakeholders. 

    The Department of Consumer Affairs is celebrating the World Consumer Rights Day 2016tomorrow. This is an annual occasion for celebration and solidarity within the International Consumer movement. The World Consumer Rights Day is an opportunity to promote and protect the basic rights of consumers.  

     

  • Govt partners industry bodies to curb misleading and fake ads

    Govt partners industry bodies to curb misleading and fake ads

    New Delhi: The Department of Consumer Affairs has entered into partnership with the industry associations ASSOCHAM, CII, DICCI, FICCI and PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry to implement a six point agenda to protect the rights of consumers against misleading advertisements, fake and counterfeit products, and for effective redressal of consumer complaints.

    An MOU in this regard will be signed tomorrow in the presence of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister Ram Vilas Paswan. 

    The MoU will broadly cover the collaborative programmes on developing and implementing a self-regulated code of fair business practices, establishing a consumer affairs division/vertical within the industry body, initiating advocacy action against unfair trade practices and preventing fake, counterfeit and sub-standard products and services and adoption of voluntary standards by Industry members.

    Earmarking of CSR funds for consumer awareness and protection activities, partnering with the National Consumer Helpline and State Consumer Helplines for grievance redressal; launching joint consumer awareness, education and training programmes under the “Jago Grahak Jago” will also be part of the agenda.

    A joint working group will monitor the implementation of agenda. 

    A self-regulation code of ethical business conduct and video spots on consumer advocacy by the industry bodies will also be released during the event.The joint initiatives of the government and the industry bodies will surely go a long way in protecting the interests of the consumers and will be a win-win situation for all the stakeholders. 

    The Department of Consumer Affairs is celebrating the World Consumer Rights Day 2016tomorrow. This is an annual occasion for celebration and solidarity within the International Consumer movement. The World Consumer Rights Day is an opportunity to promote and protect the basic rights of consumers.  

     

  • Portal launched to help consumers complain against misleading ads

    Portal launched to help consumers complain against misleading ads

    NEW DELHI: A three-tier system has been constituted by the the Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA) to tackle the menace of misleading advertisements as part of its mission to address misleading advertisements and avoid unfair trade practices.

     

    DoCA has partnered with the Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI) as an executive arm to process the incoming consumer complaints.

     

    Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister Ram Vilas Paswan today launched the web portal GAMA (“Grievances against Misleading Advertisements”) at the National Conference on Consumer Rights in New Delhi to help this mission.

     

    The collaboration will see joint efforts to evaluate and pass strictures against the violators. The six priority sectors that would be covered are agriculture and food, health, education, housing, financial services and e-commerce.

     

    The complaints will be evaluated across media including print, packaging, internet, outdoor, wall paintings, posters and billboards amongst others.

     

    The complaints of misleading advertisements received on GAMA portal (gama.gov.in), will be handled in a three level-system: first by ASCI, in case of non-compliance by a sub-committee headed by the Joint Secretary DoCA under Inter Ministerial Monitoring Committee (IMMC) and finally the concerned regulator will take action in case of persistent offenders.

     

    DoCA is also leveraging the network of Grahak Suvidha Kendra to make it easier for consumers in remote areas to complain.

     

    DoCA additional secretary G Gurucharan said, “The problem of misleading advertisements and the consequent unfair trade practices that arise is widespread – across sectors, mediums and geographies. DoCA’s partnering with ASCI is an important step in empowering self-regulatory bodies and demonstrating “More Governance – Less Government.”

     

    ASCI chairman Narendra Ambwani added, “We are very happy to have been entrusted with this responsibility by DoCA. GAMA portal will be very consumer friendly as one can track the status of the complaints which he or she registered on this portal.”