SALIENT FEATURES OF CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT, 2019

The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 received the accent of the President on 9^th August, 2019, and subsequently got notified on 20.07.2020. The old Act namely Consumer Protection Act, 1986 will be replaced by new Act namely Consumer Protection Act,2019.  

The main features of The Consumer Protection Act, 2019, are as follows:

• New Act has widened the definition of “consumer”, which includes offline and online transactions through electronic means or by teleshopping or direct selling or multi-level marketing.

• District forum is renamed as ‘District Commission’.

• The original pecuniary jurisdiction of District Commission shall  not   be   more    than Rs. 1 crore, State Commission from 1 crore to 10 crores, and National commission above 10 crores. 

• Now the Complainant can institute the complaint within the territorial jurisdiction of the commission where the complainant resides or personally works for gain, besides the earlier provisions.

•  The limitation period for filing an appeal to State Commission is now 45 days from the date of order, earlier the same was 30 days from the date of order, retaining the powers to condone the delay. 

• The State Commission shall have minimum one President and 4 Members.

• Before filing an appeal before State Commission, the Opposite party needs to deposit 50% of the amount ordered by the District Commission, earlier the maximum limit was of Rs. 25,000/- which has been deleted in new Act.

• E-filing of complaint is main attraction of the new Act. The Complainant can file his complaint online and can attend hearing and or examining witnesses via video conferencing.    

• A new concept is introduced in the new Act named “Product Liability”. Product liability means the responsibility of the product manufacturer or product seller, to compensate for any harm caused to a consumer by such defective product. Earlier no one was held responsible for the harm caused by the product, but now the service provider, or manufacturer or seller which include e-commerce platform, will be accountable for any harm caused by the product. This will not act as a shield for those dealing in e-commerce, that it is just a platform or an aggregator. Some exceptions are also provided in section 87 where product liability action cannot be taken for eg. Where product is altered, misused or modified etc.

• A second appeal to National Commission can be entertained as per section 51(3), only if there is substantial question of law involved in the matter.

• As per section 49(2) and 59(2) of new Act, the State Commission and NCDRC respectively, can declare any terms of contract which are unfair to any consumer, to be null and void.

• The District, State and National Commission shall have power to review its own order as per section 40,50 and 60 respectively.

• Any person aggrieved by the order of Central Authority can file an appeal before NCDRC by virtue of section 58 of the Act.

•  For execution of an Order, section 71 will be attracted and all the provisions of Order XXI of CPC will be applicable.

• Mediation will play an important role in new Act. A separate Chapter V which covers sections from Section 74 to 81, gives elaborate provisions of Mediation.

• The new Act explains broadly the concept of unfair trade practices, which include varied points like misleading advertisements, offering gifts prizes with malafide intent, disclosure of personal information given in confidence by the consumers, etc.

• A new concept is introduced named ‘Central Consumer Protection Authority’ will be called as Central Authority. This Authority will regulate matters relating to violation of rights of consumers, unfair trade practices and false or misleading advertisement which are prejudicial in public interest and protect and enforce rights of consumer as a class.  This investigation wing will be headed by District General, which will investigate into consumer rights violation. 

• The Central Authority can take action Suo-moto after ascertaining the fact that there exists prima facie violation of consumer rights or any unfair trade practice has been exercised which is prejudicial in public interest.

With the new Act all is set to become a law. Now the Consumer will be a King and seller will be estopped from using ‘consumer beware’ as a shield to continue his unfair practices. Now the e-commerce sector should come up with more vigilant and legal consumer-friendly policies, in order to sustain in the todays e-world.