New Delhi: Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed the Consumer Protection Bill that seeks to establish the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to protect and enforce the rights of the consumers.
The CCPA will take immediate action after a complaint is filed, even by a single consumer, and the authority can also file a class suit, Union Food and Consumer Affairs Ram Vilas Paswan said, while speaking on the bill.
He said that the overall purpose of the bill is to ease the process of addressing the grievances of consumers.
The bill, which would replace the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, proposes setting up of the Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission and Forums at the District, State and National levels for adjudicating consumer complaints.
The Consumer Protection Bill, 2018, was introduced in Lok Sabha on January 2018 and was passed by the House the same year in December.
The bill, pending in Rajya Sabha, got lapsed after Lok Sabha dissolved. Hence, the government introduced the new consumer protection bill.
The Consumer Protection Bill, 2019 provides for product liability action on account of harm caused to consumers due to defective action or on account of harm caused to consumers due to defective product or deficiency in services.
The emergence of global supply chains, rise in international trade and rapid development of e-commerce has led to new delivery systems for goods and services and have provided opportunities to the consumer.
However, misleading advertisements, telemarketing, multi-level marketing, direct selling, and e-commerce also pose new challenges and require swift executive interventions to prevent consumer detriment.
The Bill also simplifies the consumer dispute adjudication process of consumer dispute redress agencies.
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