Consumer Rights

The Consumer Protection Act, 2019, grants every consumer six fundamental rights. These rights are the backbone of consumer protection in India — they empower you to demand safety, information, choice, a fair hearing, redressal, and education. Before studying the rights themselves, it is essential to understand the key terms the Act defines, because these terms appear in every complaint and every case.

Key Terms Defined by the Consumer Protection Act, 2019

The Act provides precise definitions for eleven terms that form the legal language of consumer disputes.

1. Complaint: Any allegation made in writing by a complainant seeking relief. The complaint can relate to a restrictive trade practice, a defect in goods, a deficiency in services, overcharging of price, or the offering of goods or services that are injurious to life and safety.
2. Complainant: The person who files the complaint. This can be one or more consumers, a voluntary consumer association, the central or state government, the central authority, a legal heir or legal representative, or — in the case of a minor — a parent or legal representative.
3. Spurious goods: Goods that are falsely claimed to be genuine. In simple terms, these are fakes or counterfeits.
4. Unfair trade practice: A trade practice that, for the purpose of promoting the sale, use, or supply of any goods or service, falsely represents its quality, standard, quantity, composition, style, or model.
5. Restrictive trade practice: A trade practice that manipulates price or affects the flow of supplies in the market for goods and services in a way that imposes an unjustified cost on the consumer.
6. Defect: Any fault, imperfection, shortcoming, or inadequacy in the quality, nature, or manner of performance of goods or a product.
7. Deficiency: Any fault, imperfection, shortcoming, or inadequacy in the quality, nature, or manner of performance of a service. It also includes any act of negligence, omission, commission, or withholding of relevant information that causes loss or injury to the consumer.
8. Injury: Any harm illegally caused to a person in body, mind, or property.
9. Product: Any article, goods, substance, raw material, or any extended cycle of such a product — in gaseous, liquid, or solid state — that possesses intrinsic value and is capable of delivery, either assembled or as a component, produced or manufactured for trade. Importantly, it does not include human tissues, blood, blood products, or organs.
10. Product Seller: Any person who, in the course of business, imports, sells, distributes, leases, installs, prepares, labels, markets, repairs, maintains, or is otherwise involved in placing a product for commercial use, or a service provider.
11. Product Liability: The responsibility of a product manufacturer or seller (or a service provider) to compensate for any harm caused to a consumer by a defective product or by a deficiency in services.

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The Six Consumer Rights

The Act provides for six distinct rights. Each one addresses a specific area where consumers are vulnerable.

1. Right to Safety

The consumer has the right to be protected against goods and services that are hazardous to life, health, and property.

For example, an electrical appliance manufactured with substandard materials or one that does not conform to safety norms might cause a serious injury or fire. Because of this right, consumers are educated to look for quality marks. Using an electrical appliance that carries an ISI mark gives assurance that the product meets specified quality and safety standards.

2. Right to be Informed

The consumer has the right to have complete information about the product they intend to buy. This includes details such as ingredients, date of manufacture, price, quantity, and directions for use.

It is because of this right that Indian law requires manufacturers to provide all such information on the package and label of the product. Without this information, a consumer cannot make an informed choice.

3. Right to be Assured

(Commonly known as the Right to Choose — the current official NCERT heading for this right is "Right to be Assured".)

The consumer has the freedom to access a variety of products at competitive prices. This right implies that marketers should offer a wide range of products in terms of quality, brand, price, size, and so on, and then allow the consumer to freely make a choice from among them. A market with no variety or with monopolistic control violates this right.

4. Right to be Heard

The consumer has the right to file a complaint and to be heard in case of dissatisfaction with a good or a service. This right ensures that a consumer's voice matters. …