Question : New Consumer Protection Bill

(a) whether the Government has prepared a New Consumer Protection Bill, if so, the details of the new draft of the Bill and the manner in which it will protect the consumers;
(b) the details of the areas/sectors proposed to be covered thereunder;
(c) whether the Government is considering to bring misleading advertisements under the proposed Act and if so, the details thereof; and
(d) the items which will be excluded from the purview of the new consumer protection law in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and the time by which the work will be completed?

THE MINISTER OF STATE
CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD AND PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
(SHRI C. R. CHAUDHARY)

(a) & (b) : Yes, Madam. The Government introduced new Consumer Protection Bill, 2018 in the Lok Sabha on 05.01.2018. The salient features of the bill include establishment of an executive agency to be known as the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to promote, protect and enforce the rights of the consumers and will be empowered to investigate, recall, refund and impose penalties; provision for product liability action in cases of personal injury, death, or property damage caused by or resulting from any product; provision for mediation as an Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) making the process of dispute adjudication simpler and quicker and simplification of the process of adjudication by the Consumer Fora.

(c) : The Consumer Protection Bill, 2018, introduced in Parliament, provides for establishment of an executive agency to be known as the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) which will deal with unfair trade practices and misleading advertisements.

(d) : The provisions of the Bill will cover the whole country.

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