Commerce · Ch 9 — Consumer Protection Act
Consumer Rights and Consumer Responsibilities
Consumer Rights and Consumer Responsibilities
The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 gives explicit statutory recognition to six consumer rights, and — though not laid down in the Act as a numbered list the same way — pairs them with a set of responsibilities every consumer is expected to exercise, because rights that are never actually used rarely translate into real protection.
Consumer rights recognised under the Act are:
| Right | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Right to Safety | Protection against goods and services that are hazardous to life and property. |
| Right to be Informed | The right to know the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard, and price of goods or services, so as to be protected against unfair trade practices. |
| Right to Choose | The right to be assured, wherever possible, access to a variety of goods and services at competitive prices, rather than being forced into a single option. |
| Right to be Heard | The right to be heard, and to be assured that consumer interests receive due consideration at appropriate forums. |
| Right to Seek Redressal | The right to seek redressal against unfair trade practices or exploitation, including fair settlement of a genuine grievance. |
| Right to Consumer Education | The right to acquire the knowledge and skill needed to be an informed consumer throughout life. |
These six rights are the foundation the rest of the Act builds on: the CCPA (studied next) exists mainly to enforce the right to safety and the right to be informed at a market-wide level, while the three-tier Commission system exists mainly to give practical effect to the right to seek redressal. …
A statutory entitlement given to a consumer under the Act — safety, information, choice, being heard, redressal, an …
A duty a consumer is expected to exercise in their own interest — awareness, insisting on a bill, checking quality marks, and raising genuine complaints — so that statutory rights …