Business Studies · Ch 11 — Consumer Protection
Key Terms
Key Terms
- Consumer Protection: The set of laws and measures — chiefly the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 — that safeguard buyers from unfair trade practices, defective goods, deficient services, and misleading advertisements, and provide a swift mechanism for getting grievances redressed.
- Consumer Rights: The six rights the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, confers on every consumer — the Right to Safety, Right to be Informed, Right to be Assured (commonly called the Right to Choose), Right to be Heard, Right to Seek Redressal, and Right to Consumer Education.
- Consumer Responsibilities: What a consumer must do to make their own rights effective — being aware of the market, buying only standardised goods, using products safely, reading labels, asserting themselves, being honest, keeping a cash memo, filing complaints when needed, forming consumer societies, and respecting the environment.
- Redressal Mechanism: The three-tier quasi-judicial machinery the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, sets up at the District, State, and National levels — the District Commission (claims up to Rs 50 lakh), the State Commission (Rs 50 lakh to Rs 2 crore), and the National Commission (above Rs 2 crore) — with a right of appeal from each level to the next, and finally to the Supreme Court. …