On Tuesday, the Consumer Protection Bill, 2019, was passed in the parliament, which led to the formation of a regulatory body Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers.
The regulatory body, formed by the government will be able to initiate class action, including enforcing recall, refund and return of products.
An exclusive law dealing with product liability has also been introduced, with this the sellers will now be responsible to compensate for injury or damage caused by defective product or deficiency in services.
The body was formed in response to the allegations on e-commerce companies by the consumer for selling counterfeit products, and also of delivering damaged or defective items.
Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Shri Ramvilas Paswan said, “the new legislation would ease the overall process of consumer grievance redressal.”
Significantly, an online seller’s body, the All India Online Vendors Association (AIOVA), had earlier raised concerns over Amazon India’s inaction pertaining to the sale of fake products on its platform.
Moreover, Alibaba, China’s major e-commerce platform was accused of faking data to show its lead among other competitors.
The bill also have provisions for deterrent punishment to check misleading advertisements and adulteration of products. These regulations will encompass both ecommerce and direct selling businesses.
Also read: Ministry of Consumer Affairs introduces guidelines for foreign e-commerce cos