The Consumer Protection (Amendment) Bill, which is likely to be passed in Parliament, will have provision of punishment to the celebrities endorsing the substandard products in misleading ads.
Union Minister for Food and Consumer Protection Ram Vilas Paswan here on Thursday said that since the Bill is in under the consideration of the legislature he would not reveal more about it but added that the proposed Consumer Protection Authority would be entrusted the task of protection and enforcing the rights of consumers to prevent unfair trade practices as well as to ensure that no advertisement is made of any goods or services which is misleading or deceiving or contravenes the provisions of the Act.
“The celebrities will be held responsible for the misleading ads and definitely punishment provision will be made for them too,” said Paswan whose decision holding the celebrities responsible has come under attack from certain quarters. He asked the celebrities to be careful while campaigning for the misleading products which claim to increase the height, lose weight or grow hair.
Paswan on Thursday chaired a national consultation meeting with States of Eastern and North Eastern regions on consumer protection which was represented by either the Ministers of these States or the senior officials. The meeting basically discussed the problems faced to the consumers and dysfunctional consumer courts. “The Government has initiated a major step to rewrite the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 so as to remove various inadequacies in the Act. We have already introduced the Bill in the lok Sabha with comprehensive changes to the consumer protection law that will introduce far reaching changes. It is proposed to create an Authority similar to the US Federal Trade Commission known as Consumer Protection Authority” the Union Minister said.
Paswan also said that the e-commerce and online shopping market will also come under the purview of the amended Act. It will also include a new chapter on the product liability which embraces provisions related to actions brought for or on account of personal injury, death or property damage, he added.
After the implementation of the amendments to the existing laws, the consumer laws will not only get stronger but also allow consumers to take class action against goods or service providers as part of the new stringent regime likely to be in place by next year to empower buyers.
Paswan said that the amendments are aimed at inclusion of more items in mandatory standards list, strengthening on hall marking mechanism and enhancing penal provisions against violations