The Consumer Protection Act, 2019: Key Features And Highlights

Introduction

The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (the Act) received the President's assent on 9 August 2019 which has replaced the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. The Act aims at protecting and strengthening the rights of the consumers by establishing authorities, imposing strict liabilities and penalties on product manufacturers, electronic service providers, misleading advertisers, and by providing additional settlement of consumer disputes through mediation.

Highlights of the Act

• Under the new Act, "consumer" is defined as a person who "buys any goods" and "hires or avails of any service" for consideration but does not include a person who obtains goods for resale or goods or service for any commercial purpose. The Act seeks to widen the scope of this definition. Thus, a consumer will now mean any person who "buys any goods" and "hires any services" which shall include both online and offline transactions through electronic means, teleshopping, direct