The Consumer Protection Act 2019 was passed to address challenges faced by consumers in the digital age and provide effective resolution of consumer disputes. It replaces the older 1986 act. The new act aims to safeguard consumer interests and rights by providing remedies against unscrupulous business practices. It also defines key terms like consumer, goods, services and advertisement to facilitate consumer protection.

1. Consumer Protection Act 2019

2. Learning objectives

3. Background of act
Concept of consumer protection
Consumer protection means safeguarding the interest and rights of consumers. In other words, it refers to the
measures adopted for the protection of consumers from unscrupulous and unethical malpractices by the
business and to provide them speedy Redressal of their grievances.

4. • The digitization has provided easy access, a large variety of choice, convenient payment mechanisms,
improved services and shopping as per convenience. However, along the growth path it also brought in
challenges related to consumer protection.
• To address the new set of challenges faced by consumers in the digital age, the Indian Parliament passed
• Consumer Protection Act, 2019 to provide the timely and effective administration and settlement of
consumer disputes.
• It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
• The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (New Act) replaceed the more than 3 decades old Consumer
ProtectionAct, 1986.

6. • Consumer is a person who consumes or uses any goods or services.
•  Goods may be consumables like wheat flour, salt, sugar, fruit etc. or durable items
• like television, refrigerator, toaster, mixer, bicycle etc.
•  Services refer to items like electricity, cooking gas, telephone, transportation, film
• show etc.
•  Normally, it is the consumption or use of goods and services that makes the person
• to be called as ‘consumer’. But in the eyes of law, both the person who buys any
• goods or hires any service for consideration(price) and the one who uses such goods
• and services with the approval of the buyer are termed as consumers.

7. • “Advertisement" means –
• any audio or visual publicity, representation, endorsement or pronouncement
• made by means of light, sound, print, electronic media, internet or website
• and includes any notice, circular, label, wrapper, invoice or such other
• documents;

8. • The most common business malpractices leading to consumer exploitation are given below.
• (a) Sale of adulterated goods.
• (b) Sale of spurious goods
• (c) Sale of sub-standard goods
• (d) Sale of duplicate goods
• (e) Use of false weights and measures
• leading to underweight.
• (f) Hoarding and black-marketing
• (g) Charging more than the Maximum
• Retail Price (MRP)
• (h) Supply of defective goods.
• (i) Misleading advertisements