Consumer Protection Act, 2019

Published: 30th Jan, 2020

Some of the highlights of the Consumers Protection Act, 2019 are:

The pecuniary jurisdiction of adjudicatory bodies increased in case of District Commission to Rs. 1 crore, in case of State Commission between 1 crore to 10 crore, and for National Commission, above Rs 10 crore.’
The bill also lists punitive action against those who are found to be manufacturing, storing, disturbing, selling, or importing products that are spurious or contain adulterants.
Provisions for “product liability” action for or on account of harm caused by or resulting from any product by way of fixing the liability of a manufacturer to a claimant.
Provision for “mediation” as an Alternate Dispute resolution mechanism, thus making the process less cumbersome, simple, and quicker.

Other Important aspects of the act include:

Simplifying the consumer dispute adjudication process, enhancing the pecuniary jurisdiction of the consumer dispute redressal agencies, increasing minimum number of member in the consumer for a, power to review their own orders by the State and district commission, Constitution of ‘circuit bench’ to facilitate quicker disposal of complaints. E-commerce guidelines would be mandatory under consumer protection law, which would include 14-day deadline to effect refund request.
The e-commerce companies would also be required to ensure that personally identifiable information of customers are protected.