Transformation of Consumer Laws and their benefits.
In the early times of industrialization, a company afford to ignore the consumers due to the high demand for their product in the market. They started selling poor quality goods at high rates. Some consumer advocates who were known as "muckrakers" tried to pull out this problem in front of the government which resulted in the creation of various federal agencies and legislation, designed to curb some of the most serious abuses. In the year 1960, one of the most prominent lawyers of the US, Advocate Ralph Nader, came to the forefront against this. He along with some activists tried hard and became the reason for the establishment of several federal agencies and the US Office of Consumer Affairs which investigates and resolves the problems faced by the consumers, conduct surveys and discloses the product information to the public.
In 1986, India adopted the Consumer Protection Act intending to provide speedy remedy to consumer grievances. A consumer can go and directly file the complaint in any Consumer Forum regarding unfair trade practices done by the manufacturer or the supplier.
Consumer forums were started to aid both the parties and discourage long litigation. Consumer Protection Act of 1986 got amended on August 19, 2019, and implemented afterwards.
Benefits:
Transformation of Consumer Laws brings a lot of merits for general consumers. One of the most important is the introduction of laws related to e-commerce which is growing with a rapid speed across the world. Provisions that allow a consumer to file a complaint against the seller in any court “provide better protection to the consumers especially in the case of teleshopping and e-commerce.”
As per the modification in section 2(c) of the Consumer Protection Act, a consumer can file a case if the contract is unfair, unilateral or unjust. Updated provisions make it necessary for the shop keepers to give the bill receipt, taking back of goods which are defective within 30 days and to make sure that the personal details of their customers like passwords, ids, emails and all other sensitive details are not disclosed.
Product liability concept is also something which provides better safety to the consumers and makes the manufacturer, seller or service provider liable to pay the consumer damages in case of any defect. Provisions towards misleading advertisements make celebrities and actors more diligent while signing up any advertisements. This saves consumers from making the wrong choice. According to the survey of Clutch in 2017, under the leadership of Ms Kristen Herhold, senior marketer, Clutch, they found around 90% of the people get attracted towards advertisements. That's why strict laws related to advertisements is a must to safeguard citizens. To reduce the burden from the court and to provide speedy trial to the consumers, this act also came up with the establishment of several mediation cells which are connected to district, state and national commission. Also, the method of Arbitration and reconciliation is promoted so that the consumers can get justice without going through the long process of the civil court.
