The Consumer Protection Act

THE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT, 1986 & RULES, 1987
INTRODUCTION
The industrial revolution and the development in the international trade and commerce
has led to the vast expansion of business and trade, as a result of which a variety of
consumer goods have appeared in the market to cater to the needs of the consumers and a
host of services have been made available to the consumers like insurance, transport,
electricity, housing, entertainment, finance and banking. A well organised sector of
manufacturers and traders with better knowledge of markets has come into existence,
thereby affecting the relationship between the traders and the consumers making the
principle of consumer sovereignty almost inapplicable.
The advertisements of goods and services in television, newspapers and magazines
influence the demand for the same by the consumers though there may be manufacturing
defects or imperfections or short comings in the quality, quantity and the purity of the
goods or there may be deficiency in the services rendered. In addition, the production of
the same item by many firms has led the consumers, who have little time to make a
selection, to think before they can purchase the best. For the welfare of the public, the
glut of adulterated and sub-standard articles in the market have to be checked. Inspite of
various provisions providing protection to the consumer and providing for stringent
action against adulterated and sub-standard articles in the different enactments like Code
of Civil Procedure, 1908, the Indian Contract Act, 1872, the Sale of Goods Act, 1930, the
Indian Penal Code, 1860, the Standards of Weights and Measures Act, 1976 and the
Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, very little could be achieved in the field of Consumer
Protection. Though the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969 arid the
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Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 have provided relief to the consumers yet it
became necessary to protect the consumers from the exploitation and to save them from
adulterated and sub-standard goods and services and to safe guard the interests of the
consumers. In order to provide for better protection of the interests of the consumer the
Consumer Protection Bill, .1986 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 5th December,
1986.
STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS
The Consumer Protection Bill, 1986 seeks to provide for better protection of the interests
of consumers and for the purpose, to make provision for the establishment of Consumer
councils and other authorities for the settlement of consumer disputes and for matter
connected therewith.
1. It seeks, inter alia, to promote and protect the rights of consumers such as-
(a) The right to be protected against marketing of goods which are hazardous to life and
property;
(b) The right to be informed about the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and
price of goods to protect the consumer against unfair trade practices;
(c) The right to be assured, wherever possible, access to an authority of goods at
competitive prices;
(d) The right to be heard and to be assured that consumers interests will receive due
consideration at appropriate forums;
(e) The right to seek redressal against unfair trade practices or unscrupulous exploitation
of consumers; and
(f) right to consumer education.
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3. These objects are sought to be promoted and protected by the Consumer Protection
Council to be established at the Central and State level.
4. To provide speedy and simple redressed to consumer disputes, a quasi-judicial
machinery is sought to be setup at the district, State and Central levels. These quasi-
judicial bodies will observe the principles of natural justice and have been empowered to
give relief of a specific nature and to award, wherever appropriate, compensation to
consumers. Penalties for noncompliance of the orders given by the quasi-judicial bodies
have also been provided.
5. The Bill seeks to achieve the above objects.
ACT 68 OF 1986
The Consumer Protection Bill, 1986 was passed by both the Houses of Parliament and it
received the assent of the President on 24th December, 1986. It came on the Statutes
Book as the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (68 of 1986).
LIST OF AMENDING ACTS
1. The Consumer Protection (Amendment) Act, 1991 (34 of 1991).
THE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT, 1986
(68 of 1986)
[24th December, 198"6)
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An Act to provide for better protection of the interests of consumers and for that purpose
to make provision for the establishment of consumer councils and other authorities for
the settlement of consumers' disputes and for matters connected therewith.
BE it enacted by Parliament in the Thirty-seventh Year of the Republic of India as
follows:-
CHAPTER I
PRELIMINARY
1. Short title, extent, commencement and application.--( I) This Act may be called the
Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
(2) It extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir.
(3) It shall come into force on such date I as the Central Government may, by notification,
appoint and different dates may be appointed for different States and for different
provisions of this Act.
(4) Save as otherwise expressly provided by the Central Government by notification, this
Act shall apply to all goods and services.
2. Definitions.--(I) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-
2[(a)"appropriate laboratory" means a laboratory or organisation-
(i) Recognised by the Central Government;
(ii) Recognised by a State Government, subject to such guidelines as may be prescribed
by the Central Government in this behalf; or
(iii) Any such laboratory or organisation established by or under any law for the time
being in force, which is maintained, financed or aided by the Central Government or a
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State Government for carrying out analysis or test of any goods with a view to
determining whether such goods suffer from any defect; ]
3[(aa) "branch office" means-
(i) Any establishment described as a branch by the opposite party; or
(ii) Any establishment carrying on either the same or substantially the same activity as
that carried on by the head office of the establishment;]
1. The provisions of Chapters I, II and IV of this Act have come into force in the whole of
India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir on 15-4-1987: vide Notification No. S.O.
390 (E), dated 15th April, 1987, published in the Gazette of India, 1987, Extra., Pt. II,
Sec. 3 (ii). The provisions of Chapter III of this Act have come into force in the whole of
India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir on 1-7-1987: vide Notification, No. S.O.
568(E), dated 10th June, 1987, published in the Gazette of India, 1987, Extra., Pt. II, Sec.
3(ii).
2. .Subs. by Act 50 of 1993, sec. 2 (w.e.f. 18-6-1993).
3. .Ins. by Act 50 of 1993, sec. 2 (w.e.f. 18-6-1993).
(b) "Complainant" means-
(i) A consumer; or
(ii) Any voluntary consumer association registered under the Companies Act,1956 (1 of
1956) or under any other law for the time being in force; or
(iii) The Central Government or any State Government;
1[(iv) one or more consumers, where there are numerous consumers having the same
interest;]
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(v) In case of death of a consumer, his legal heir or representative ;) who or which makes
a complaint;
(c) "Complaint" means any allegation in writing made by a complainant that-
2[(i) an unfair trade practice or a restrictive trade practice has been adopted by (any trader
or service provider;]
(ii) 2[the goods bought by him or agreed to be bought by him] suffer from one or more
defects;
(iii) 2[the services hired or availed of or agreed to be hired or availed of by him] suffer
from deficiency in any respect;
(iv) A trader or the service provider, as the case may be, has charged for the goods or for
the services mentioned in the complaint, a price in excess of the price-
(a) Fixed by or under any law for the time being in force;
(b) Displayed on the goods or any package containing such goods;
(c) Displayed on the price list exhibited by him by or under any law for the time being in
force;
(d) Agreed between the parties;)
3[(V) goods which will be hazardous to life and safety when used, are being-offered for
sale to the public-
(a) In contravention of any standard relating to safety of such goods as required to be
complied with, by or under any law for the time being in force;
(b) If the trader could have known with due diligence that the goods so offered are unsafe
to the public ;)
(vi) Services which are hazardous or likely to be hazardous to life and safety of the public
when used, are being offered by the service provider which such person could have
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known with due diligence to be injurious to life and safety;) with a view to obtaining any
relief provided by or under this Act;
(d) "Consumer" means any person who-
(i) Buys any goods for a consideration which has been paid or promised or partly paid and
partly promised, or under any system of deferred payment and includes any user of such
goods other than the person who buys such goods for consideration paid or promised or
partly paid or partly promised, or under any system of deferred payment when such use is
made with the approval of such person, but does not include a person who obtains such
goods for resale or for any commercial purpose; or
(ii) 4[hires or avails of] any services for a consideration which has been paid or promised
or partly paid and partly promised, or under any system of deferred payment and includes
any beneficiary of such services other than the person who 4[hires or avails of] the
services for consideration paid or promised, or partly paid and partly promised, or under
any system of deferred payment,
1. Ins.byAct50ofI993, sec.2 (w.e.f.18-6-1993).
2. Subs. by Act 50 of 1993, sec. 2 (w.e.f. 18-6-1993).
3. Ins. by Act 50 of 1993, sec. 2 (w.e.f. 18-6-1993). ,,!
4. Subs. by Act 50 of 1993, sec. 2 (w.e.f. 18-6-1993). ~. S
When such services are availed of with the approval of the first mentioned person; (but
does not include a person who avails of such services of any commercial purpose ;)
1[Explanation.-For the purposes of sub-clause (i), "commercial purpose" does not include
use by a consumer of goods bought and used by him exclusively for the purpose of
earning his livelihood, by means of self-employment;]
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(e) "Consumer dispute" means a dispute where the person against whom a complaint has
been made, denies or disputes the allegations contained in the complaint;
(f) "Defect" means any fault, imperfection or shortcoming in the quality, quantity,
potency, purity or standard which is required to be maintained by or under any law for the
time being in force or 2[under any contract, express or implied or] as is claimed by the
trader in any manner whatsoever in relation to any goods;
(g) "Deficiency" means any fault, imperfection, shortcoming or inadequacy in the quality,
nature and manner of performance which is required to be maintained by or under any
law for the time being in force or has been undertaken to be performed by a person in
pursuance of a contract or otherwise in relation to any service;
(h) "District Forum" means a Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum established under
clause (a) of section 9;
(i) "Goods" means goods as defined in the Sale of Goods Act, 1930; (3 of 1930);
(j) "Manufacturer" means a person who--
(i) Makes or manufactures any goods or parts thereof; or
(iii) Does not make or manufacture any goods but assembles parts thereof made or
manufactured by others; or
(iv) Puts or causes to be put his own mark on any goods made or manufactured by any
other manufacturer ;)
3[(jj) "member" includes the President and a member of the National Commission or a
State Commission or a District Forum, as the case may be;}
(k) "National Commission" means the National Consumer Disputes Redressal
Commission established under clause (c) of section 9;
(1) "Notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette;
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(m) "Person" includes,-
(i) A firm whether registered or not;
1. Ins. by Act 50 of 1993, sec. 2 (w.e.f. 18-6-1993).
(ii) A Hindu undivided family;
(iii) A co-operative society;
(iv) Every other association of persons whether registered under the Societies
Registration Act, 1860 (21 of 1860) or not;
(n) "Prescribed" means prescribed by rules made by the State Government, or as the, case
may be, by the Central Government under this Act;
1[(nn) "regulation‖ means the regulations made by the National Commission under this
Act ;)
(nnn) ―Restrictive trade practice‖ means a trade practice which tends to bring about
manipulation of price or its conditions of delivery or to affect flow of supplies in the
market relating to goods or services in such a manner as to impose on the consumers
unjustified costs or restrictions and shall include;
(a) Delay beyond the period agreed to by a trader in supply of such goods or in providing
the services which has led or is likely to lead to rise in the price;
(b) Any trade practice which requires a consumer to buy, hire or avail of any goods or, as
the case may be, services as condition precedent to buying, hiring or availing of other
goods or services ;)
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(c) "Service" means service of any description which is made available to potential (users
and includes the provision of facilities in connection with banking, financing insurance,
transport, processing, supply of electrical or other energy, board or lodging or both,
2[housing construction] entertainment, amusement or the purveying of news or other
information, but does not include the rendering of any service free of charge or under a
contract of personal service;
(d) ―Spurious goods & services‖ mean such goods and services which are claimed to be
genuine but they are actually not so;)
(p) "State Commission" means a Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission established
in a State under clause (b) of section 9;
(q) "Trader" in relation to any goods means a person who sells or distributes any goods
for sale and includes the manufacturer thereof, and where such goods are sold or
distributed in package form, includes the packer thereof;
3[(r) "unfair trade practice" means a trade practice which, for the purpose of promoting
the sale, use or supply of any goods or for the provision of any service, adopts any unfair
method or unfair or deceptive practice including any of the following practices, namely;-
(1) The practice of making any statement, whether orally or in writing or by visible
representation which,-
(i) Falsely represents that the goods are of a particular standard, quality, quantity, grade,
composition, style or model;
(ii) Falsely represents that the services are of a particular standard, quality or grade;
(jii) falsely represents any re-built, second-hand, renovated, reconditioned or old goods as
new goods;
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(iv) Represents that the goods or services have sponsorship, approval, performance,
characteristics, accessories, uses or benefits which such goods or services do not have;
(v) Represents that the seller or the supplier has a sponsorship or approval or affiliation
which such seller or supplier does not have;
(vi) Makes a false or misleading representation concerning the need for, or the usefulness
of, any goods or services;
1. Ins. byAct50ofI993, sec. 2 (w.e.f. 18-6-1993).
(vii) Gives to the public any warranty or guarantee of the performance, efficacy or length
of life of a product or of any goods that is not based on an adequate or proper test thereof:
Provided that where a defence is raised to the effect that such warranty or guarantee is
based on adequate or proper test, the burden of proof of such defence shall lie on the
person raising such defence;
(viii) Makes to the public a representation in a form that purports to be-
(i) A warranty or guarantee of a product or of any goods or services; or
(ii) A promise to replace, maintain or repair an article or any part thereof or to repeat or
continue a service until it has achieved a specified result, if such purported warranty or
guarantee or promise is materially misleading or if there is no reasonable prospect that
such warranty, guarantee or promise will be carried out;
(ix) Materially misleads the public concerning the price at which a product or like
products or goods or services, have been or 'are, ordinarily sold or provided, and, for this
purpose, a representation as to price shall be deemed to refer to the price at which the
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product or goods or services has or have been sold by sellers or provided by suppliers
generally. in the relevant market unless it is clearly specified to be .the price at which the
product has been sold or services have been provided by the person by whom or on whose
behalf the representation is made;
(x) Gives false or misleading facts disparaging the goods, services or trade of another
person.
Explanation.-For the purposes of clause (1), a statement that is-
(a) Expressed on an article offered or displayed for sale, or on its wrapper or container; or
(b) Expressed on anything attached to, inserted in, or accompanying, an article offered or
displayed for sale, or on anything on which the article is mounted for display or sale; or
(c) Contained in or on anything that is sold, sent, delivered, transmitted or in any other
manner whatsoever made available to a member of the public, shall be deemed to be a
statement made to the public by, and only by, the person who had caused the statement to
be so expressed, made or contained;
(2) Permits the publication of any advertisement whether in any newspaper or otherwise,
for the sale or supply at a bargain price, of goods or services that are not intended to be
offered for sale or supply at the bargain price, or for a period that is, and in quantities that
are, reasonable, having regard to the nature of the market in which the business is carried
on, the nature and size of business, and the nature of the advertisement.
Explanation.-For the purpose of clause (2), "bargaining price" means-
(a) A price that is stated in any advertisement to be a bargain price, by reference to an
ordinary price or otherwise, or
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(b) A price that a person who reads, hears or sees the advertisement, would reasonably
understand to be a bargain price having regard to the prices at which the product
advertised or like products are ordinarily sold;
(3) permits-
(a) The offering of gifts, prizes or other items with the intention of not providing them as
offered or creating impression that something is being given or offered free of charge
when it is fully or partly covered by the amount charged, in the transaction as a whole; the
conduct of any contest, lottery, game of chance or skill, for the purpose of promoting,
directly or indirectly, the sale, use or supply of any product or any business interest;
(3A) withholding from the participants of any scheme offering gifts, prices or other items
free of charge on its closure the information about final results of the scheme.
Explanation: for the purpose of this sub clause, the participants of a scheme shall be
deemed to have been informed of the final results of the scheme where such results are
within a reasonable time published, prominently in the same newspaper in which the
scheme was originally advertised ;)
(4) Permits the sale or supply of goods intended to be used, or are of a kind likely to be
used, by consumers, knowing or having reason to believe that the goods do not comply
with the standards prescribed by competent authority relating to performance,
composition, contents, design, constructions, finishing or packaging as are necessary to
prevent or reduce the risk of injury to the person using the goods;
(5) Permits the hoarding or destruction of goods, or refuses to sell the goods or to make
them available for sale or to provide any service, if such hoarding or destruction or refusal
raises or tends to raise or is intended to raise, the cost of those or other similar goods or
services.]
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(6) Manufacture of spurious goods or offering such goods for sale or adopting deceptive
practices in the provision of services ;)
(2) Any reference in this Act to any other Act or provision thereof which is not in force in
any area to which this Act applies shall be construed to have a reference to the
corresponding Act or provision thereof in force in such area.
COMMENTS
(i) Persons buying goods either for re-sale or for use in large scale profit making activity
will not be `consumers‘ entitled to protection under the Act; Raj Kumar v. S.C. Verma,
2001 (1) CPR 437
(ii) The government servants and the staff of the Accountant General Office of the
Comptroller and Auditor General maintains the records of provident fund of government
servants, issue slips of deposits of fund and on retirement final payments are made to the
subscribers. The government servants and the staff of the Accountant General in
discharging their duties does not render any service for consideration, nor hiring of any
service is involved hence, maintenance of General Provident Fund Accounts does not fall
within the meaning of `service‘;
Hari Vallabh Vijay v. Administration Officer, 2001 (1) CPR 529.
(iii) When the National Commission as a matter of fact, recorded the findings as to the
discharge of the liability of the carrier, the Supreme Court did not interfere on the issue;
Saddler Shoes Pvt. Ltd. v. Air India, (2001) 8 SCC 390
(iv) The insurance company is not a consumer. Hence the consumer complaint by
insurance company is not maintainable; Savani Road Lines v. Sundaram Textiles Ltd.,
AIR 2001 SC 2630
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(v) The repudiation of the claim by the Insurance Company on the ground that the driver
was not holding a valid driving license at the time of the accident could not be termed as
deficiency in service or negligence on the part of the Insurance Company within the
meaning of section 2 (g) of the Act; New India Assurance Co. Ltd. v. Smt.
Pushpa YashwantGhatge, I996NCJ 195.
(vi) Medical services are covered under the definition of "service". Service includes
rendering of consultation, diagnosis and treatment, both medical and surgical; Indian
Medical Association v. VP. Shantha, 1995 SCALE 273.
(vii) "Contract of personal service" has to be distinguished from a "contract for personal
service". In the absence of relationship of master and servant between the patient and the
medical practitioner, the service rendered by a medical practitioner to the patient cannot
be regarded as service rendered under a contract of personal service. It is "contract for
personal services". Wherever, there is relationship like that of master and servant it is a
"contract of personal service" and is excluded from the purview of the Act; Indian
Medical Association v. VP. Shantha, 1995 SCALE 273.
(viii)A licensee to run a phone is not a consumer; TechnocombineAssociatesv. Union of
India, I (1994) CPJ 481: 1994 (I) CPR 298.
(ix) A lottery ticket holder is not "consumer" within the ambit of the definition of
"consumer" under the Act; Jagdish Chand v. Director, Sikkim State Lottery, 1994 (I)
CPR213.
(x) Applicant who merely applies for allotment of shares is not a consumer; HG Bhatia v.
ABC Computers Pvt. Ltd., 1994 (I) CPR 316.
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(xi) The beneficial consumer jurisdiction cannot be extended to lotteries and wagering
transactions or consequential rights flowing from void contracts; Jagdish Chandv.
Director, Sikkim State Lotteries, 1994 (I) CPR 213. ,.
(xii) If somebody does not perform his part of the contract, it amount/! to deficiency in
service; Smt. Ramala Roy v.
Rabindra Nath Sen, 1994 (I) CPR 66.
(xiii) The agreement for hypothecation does not create the ownership right, and as such
no complaint can be maintained for deficiency in service; Jayantial Keshavlal Chauhan v.
The National Insurance Co. Ltd., 1994 (I) CPR 390.
(xiv) Undue delay in declaration of examination result is obviously deficiency in service;
Secretary,Board of School Education, Haryana v. Mukesh Chand, 1994 (I) CPR 269.
(xv) The student is a consumer of service of educational institute; Sushant Yuvaraj Rode
v; Shri Ramdeobaba Engineering College, 1993 (III) CPR 624.
(xvi) A person who receives medical treatment in a Government hospital is not a
consumer under the Act; Consumer Unity & Trust Society v. State of Rajasthan, (1991) I
CPR 241. However, the State Commission of Orissa held that a patient is a Consumer
being the beneficiary of services in as much as the State Government is paying the
consideration amount in the form of salary to the doctors aI)d hospital staff; Smt. Sukanti
Behera v. Dr. Sashi
Bhusan Rath, II (1993) CPJ 633.
3. Act not in derogation of any other law. - The provisions of this Act shall be in addition
to and not in derogation of the provisions of any other law for the time being in force;
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COMMENTS
(i) The remedy provided under the Act is in addition to the provisions of any other law for
the time being in force. The provisions of this Act give the consumer an additional
remedy besides those that may be available under other existing laws; The Consumer &
Citizens Forum v. Karnataka Power Corporation, 1994 (I) CPR 130.
(ii) When a case is pending in a court in which full evidence is to be recorded the Forums
constituted under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 should not entertain the complaint
with respect to the same cause of action; Hanuman Prasad v. The New India Assurance
Co. Ltd., I (1994) CPJ I (NC).
(iii) It is nowhere laid down that whenever the examination and cross-examination is
involved, the proper forum for adjudication of the dispute is only Civil Court; S.K.
Lakhotia v. National Insurance
Co. Ltd., 1994 (I) CPR 43.
(iv) It is authoritatively settled that the arbitration clause is not a bar to the entertainment
of the complaint by the Redressal Agency constituted under the Act, even if the
arbitration provision has been laid down in a statute; Ram Nath v. Improvement Trust,
Bathinda, 1994 (I) CPR 357.
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CHAPTER II
CONSUMER PROTECTION COUNCILS
4. The Central Consumer Protection Council. – (l) The Central Government shall, by
notification, establish with effect from such date as it may specify in such notification, a
Council
to be known as the Central Consumer Protection Council (hereinafter referred to as the
Central
Council).
(2) The Central Council shall consist of the following members, namely:-
(a) the Minister in charge of the 1[consumer affairs] in the Central Government, who
shall
be its Chairman, and
(b) such number of other official or non-official members representing such interests as
may be prescribed.
5. Procedure for meetings of the Central Council.-( I) The Central Council shall meet
as and
when necessary, but 2[at least one meeting] of the Council shall be held every year.
(2) The Central Council shall meet at such time and place as the Chairman may think fit
and shall observe such procedure in regard to the transaction of its business as may be
prescribed.
6. Objects of the Central Council.- The objects of the Central Council shall be to
promote and
protect the rights of the consumers such as,-
(a) the right to be protected against the marketing of goods 3[and services] which are
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hazardous to life and property;
(b) the right to be informed about the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and
price of goods3[ or services, as the case may be] so as to protect the consumer
against, unfair trade practices;
(c) the right to be 'assured, wherever possible, access to a variety of goods 3[and
services] at competitive prices;
(d) the right to be heard and to be assured that consumer's interests will receive due
consideration at appropriate Fora;
(e) the right to seek redressal against unfair trade practices 3[or restrictive trade
practices] or unscrupulous exploitation of consumers; and
(f) the right to consumer education.
7. The State Consumer Protection Councils.-(l) The State Government shall, by
notification,
establish with effect from such date as it may specify in such notification, a Council to be
known
as the Consumer Protection Council for………… (hereinafterreferred to as the State
Council).
4[(2)The State Council shall consist of the following members, namely :
(a) the Minister incharge of consumer affairs in the State Government who shall be its
Chairman;
(b) such number of other official or non-official members representing such interests as
may 'be prescribed by the State Government.
(c) such number of other official or non-official members, not exceeding ten, as may be
nominated by the Central Government.)
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(3) The State Council shall meet as and when necessary but not less than two meetings
shall be
held every year.
(4) The State Council shall meet at such time and place as the Chairman think fit and
shall
observe such procedure in regard to the transaction of its business as may be prescribed
by the
State Government.]
8. Objects of the State Council.- The objects of every State Council shall be to promote
and
protect within the State the rights of the consumers laid down in clauses (a) to (f) of
section 6.
8A. The District Consumer Protection Council - (1) The State Government shall establish
for
every district, by notification, a council to be known as the District Consumer Protection
Council
with effect from such date as it may specify in such notification.
(2) The District Consumer Protection Council (hereinafter referred to as the District
Council)
shall consist of the following members, namely –
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(a) the Collector of the district (by whatever name called), who shall be its Chairman;
and
(b) such number of other official and non-official members representing such interests as
may be prescribed by the State Government.
(3) The District Council shall meet as and when necessary but not less than two meetings
shall
be held every year.
(4) The District Council shall meet as such time and place within the district as the
Chairman
may think fit and shall observe such procedure in regard to the transaction of its business
as may
be prescribed by the State Government.)
8.B. Objects of the District Council - The objects of every District Council shall be to
promote
and protect within the district the rights of the consumers laid down in clauses (a) t (f) of
section
6.)
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CHAPTER III
CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL AGENCIES
9. Establishment of Consumer Disputes Redressal Agencies.- There shall be
established for the purposes of this Act, the following agencies, namely:-
(a) a Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum to be known as the "District Forum"
established by the State Government 1[* * *] in each district of the State by
notification:
2[Provided that the State Government may, if it deems fit, establish more than one
District Forum in a district;]
(b) a Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission to be known as the "State Commission"
established by the State Government 3[* * *] in the State by notification; and
(c) a National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission established by the Central
Government by notification.
COMMENTS
(i) One or more consumers can file complaint; Chief General Manager, Calcutta
Telephones v. International Packers & Movers, I (1994) CPJ 132: 1994 (I) CPR 252.
(ii) When no objection was taken to the territorial jurisdiction of District Forum by filling
written version, the objection cannot be entertained in appeal raised orally; Essen
Computers Ltd. v. Tagore Gracias, 1992 (II) CPR 556.
(iii) If a redressal forum has no jurisdiction, it cannot entertain the complaint on merits;
Solvochen Intermediates Pvt. Ltd. v. Boilertech Engineers Pvt. Ltd., 1992 (II) CPR 322.
10. Composition of the District Forum.-4[(I) Each District Forum shall consist of,-
(a) a person who is, or has been, or is qualified to be a District Judge, who shall be its
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President;
(b) two other members, one of whom shall be a woman, who shall have the following
qualifications, namely :-
(i) be not less than thirty-five years of age,
(ii) possess a bachelor‘s degree from a recognized university,
(iii) be persons of ability, integrity and standing, and have adequate problems relating to
economics, law, commerce, accountancy, industry public affairs or administration:
Provided that a person shall be disqualified for appointment as a member, if he-
(a) has been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for an offence which, in the
opinion of the State Government, involves moral turpitude; or
(b) is an undischarged insolvent; or
(c) is of unsound mind and stands so declared by a competent court; or
(d) has been removed or dismissed from the service of the Government or a body
corporate owned or controlled by the Government; or
(e) has, in the opinion of the state Government, such financial or other interest as is likely
to affect prejudicially the discharge by him of his functions as a member; or
(f) has such other disqualifications as may be prescribed by the State Government;)
1. Omitted by Act 50 of 1993, sec. 7 (w.e.f. 18-6-1993).
3. Omitted by Act 50 of 1993, sec. 7 (w.e.f. 18-6-1993).
I[(IA) Every appointment under sub-section (I) shall be made by the State Government on
the recommendation of a selection committee consisting of the following, namely :-
(i) the President of the State Commission - Chairman.
23
(ii) Secretary, Law Department of the State - Member.
(iii) Secretary, incharge of the Department - Member.]
dealing with consumer affairs in the State Provided that where the President of the state
Commission is, by reason of absence or otherwise, unable to act as Chairman of the
Selection Committee, the State Government may refer the matter to the Chief Justice of
the High Court for nominating a sitting Judge of that High Court to act as Chairman)
(2) Every member of the District Forum shall hold office for a term of five years or up to
the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.
Provided that a member shall be eligible for re-appointment for another term of five years
or up to the age of sixty-five years, whichever is earlier, subject to the condition that he
fulfils the qualifications and other conditions for appointment mentioned in clause (b) of
sub-section (1) and such re-appointment is also made on the basis of the recommendation
of the Selection Committee.
Provided further that a member may resign his office in writing under his hand addressed
to the State Government and on such resignation being accepted, his office shall become
vacant and may be filled by appointment of a person possessing any of the qualifications
mentioned in sub-section (1) in relation to the category of the member who is required t
be appointed under the provision of sub-section (1A) in place of the person who has
resigned:
Provided also that a person appointed as the President or as a member, before the
commencement of the Consumer Protection (Amendment) Act, 2002, shall continue to
hold such office as President or member, as the case may be, till the completion of his
term.
24
(3) The salary or honorarium and other allowances payable to, and the other terms and
conditions of service of the members of the District Forum shall be such as may be
prescribed by the State Government.
(Provided that the appointment of a member on whole-time basis shall be made by the
state Government on the recommendation of the President of the State Commission
taking into consideration such factors as may be prescribed including the work load of the
District Forum).
COMMENTS
The pension received by the presidents of the District Consumer Forum in respect of their
previous services as District Judges is subject to deduction from their salary as president
of the Forum fixed under provisions of the Act; M.S. Chawla v. State of Punjab, AIR
2001 SC 1706.
11. Jurisdiction of the District Forum.--( I) Subject to the other provisions of this Act,
the District Forum shall have jurisdiction to entertain complaints where the value of the
goods or services and the compensation, if any, claimed 2[ does not exceed rupees twenty
lakhs].
(2) A complaint shall be instituted in a District Forum within the local limits of whose
jurisdiction,-
(a) the opposite party or each of the opposite parties, where there are more than one, at
the time of the institution of the complaint, actually and voluntarily resides or 2[carries on
business or has a branch office or] personally works for gain, or
(b) any of the opposite parties, where there are more than one, at the time of the
institution of the complaint, actually and voluntarily resides, or 2[carries on business or
25
has a branch office], or personally works for gain, provided that in such case either the
permission of the District Forum is given, or the opposite parties who do not reside, or
2[ carry on business or have a branch office], or personally work for gain, as the case may
be, acquiesce in such institution; or
(c) the cause of action, wholly or in part, arises.
COMMENTS
(i) Objection & regarding territorial jurisdiction should be taken at the earliest opportunity
or the same deemed to have been waived; Kurukshetra University v. Vinay Prakash
Verma, II (1993) CPJ647.
(ii) A petition of complaint can be filed against corporation carrying on business within
the territory of District Forum or Commission even though its sole or principal office is
situated outside state limits; Consumer Education and Research Society v. Canara Bank,
(1991t I CPR 405.
[12. Manner in which complaint shall be made.- (1) A complaint in relation to any
goods sold or delivered or agreed to be sold or delivered or any service provided or
agreed to be providednmay be filed with a District Forum by-
(a) the consumer to whom such goods are sold or delivered or agreed to be sold or
delivered or such service provided or agreed to be provided;
(b) any recognised consumer association whether the consumer to whom the goods sold
26
or delivered or agreed to be sold or delivered or service provided or agreed to be provided
is a member of such association or not;
(c) one or more consumers, where there are numerous consumers having the same
interest, with the permission of the District Forum, on behalf of, or for the benefit of, all
consumers so interested; or
(d) the Central or the State Government, as the case may be, either in its individual
capacity or as a representative of interests of the consumers in general.
(2) Every complaint filed under sub-section (1) shall be accompanied with such amount
of fee and payable in such manner as may be prescribed.
(3) On receipt of a complaint made under sub-section (1), the District Forum may, by
order, allow the complaint to be proceeded with or rejected:
Provided that a complaint shall not be rejected under this sub-section unless an
opportunity of being heard has been given to the complainant:
Provided further that the admissibility of the complaint shall ordinarily be decided within
twenty-one days from the date on which the complaint was received.
(4) Where a complaint is allowed to be proceeded with under sub-section (3), the District
Forum may proceed with the complaint in the manner provided under this Act:
Provided that where a complaint has been admitted by the District Forum, it shall not be
transferred to any other court or tribunal or any authority set up by or under any other law
for the time being in force.
Explanation.-For the purpose of this section, "recognised consumer association" means
any voluntary consumer association registered under the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of
1956) or any other law for the time being in force.]
27
13. Procedure on receipt of complaint.-(1) The District Forum shall, on admission of a
complaint, if it relates to any goods,-
(a) refer a copy of the complaint to the opposite party mentioned in the complaint
directing him to give his version of the case within a period of thirty days or such
extended period not exceeding fifteen days as may be granted by the District Forum;
(b) where the opposite party on receipt of a complaint referred to him under clause (a)
denies or disputes the allegations contained in the complaint, or omits or fails to take any
action to represent his case within the time given by the District Forum, the District
Forum shall proceed to settle the consumer dispute in the manner specified in clauses (c)
to (g);
(c) where the complaint alleges a defect in the goods which cannot be determined without
proper analysis or test of the goods, the District Forum shall obtain a sample of the goods
from the complainant, seal it and authenticate it in the manner prescribed and refer the
sample so sealed to the appropriate laboratory along with a direction that such laboratory
make an analysis or test, whichever may be necessary, with a view to finding out whether
such goods suffer from any defect alleged in the complaint or from any other defect and
to report its findings thereon to the District Forum within a period of forty-five days of
the receipt of the reference or within such extended period as may be granted by the
District Forum;
(d) before any sample of the goods is referred to any appropriate laboratory under clause
(c), the District Forum may require the complainant to deposit to the credit
1. Subs. by Act 50 of 1993, sec. 10 (w.e.f. 18-6-1993).. of the Forum such fees as may be
specified, for payment to the appropriate laboratory for carrying out the necessary
analysis or test in relation to the goods in question;
28
(e) the District Forum shall remit the amount deposited to its credit under clause (d) to the
appropriate laboratory to enable it to carry out the analysis or test mentioned in clause
(c) and on receipt of the report from the appropriate laboratory, the District Forum shall
forward a copy of the report along with such remarks as the District Forum may feel
appropriate to the opposite party;
(f) if any of the parties disputes the correctness of the findings of the appropriate
laboratory, or disputes the correctness of the methods of analysis or test adopted by the
appropriate laboratory, the District Forum shall require the opposite party or the
complainant to submit in writing his objections in regard to the report made by the
appropriate laboratory;
(g) the District Forum shall thereafter give a reasonable opportunity to the complainant as
well as the opposite party of being heard as to the correctness or otherwise of the report
made by the appropriate laboratory and also as to the objection made in relation thereto
under clause
(f) and issue an appropriate order under section 14.
(2) the District Forum shall, if the complaint received by it under section 12 relates to
goods in respect of which the procedure specified in sub~section (1) cannot be followed,
or if the complaint relates to any services,-
(a) refer a copy of such complaint to the opposite party directing him to give his version
of the case within a period of thirty days or such extended period not exceeding fifteen
days as may be granted by the District Forum;
(b) where the opposite party, on receipt of a copy of the complaint, referred to him under
clause (a) denies or disputes the allegations contained in the complaint, or omits or fails to
29
take any action to represent his case within the time given by the District Forum, the
District Forum shall proceed to settle the consumer dispute,-
(j) on the basis of evidence brought to its notice by the complainant and the opposite
party, where the opposite party denies or disputes the allegations contained in the
complaint, or
(ii) (ex-parte on the basis of evidence) brought to its notice by the complainant where the
opposite party omits or fails to take any action to represent his case within the time given
by the Forum.
(c) where the complainant fails to appear on the date of hearing before the District
Forum, the District Forum may either dismiss the complaint for default or decide it on
merits.)
(3) No proceedings complying with the procedure laid down in sub-sections (1) and (2)
shall be called in question in any court on the ground that the principles of natural justice
have not been complied with.
(3A) Every complaint shall be heard as expeditiously as possible and endeavour shall be
made to decide the complaint within a period of three months from the date of receipt of
notice by opposite party where the complaint does not require analysis or testing of
commodities and within five months if it requires analysis or testing of commodities.
Provided that no adjournment shall be ordinarily granted by the District Forum unless
sufficient cause is shown and the reasons for grant of adjournment have been recorded in
writing by the Forum:
Provided further that the District Forum shall make such orders as to the costs occasioned
by the adjournment as may be provided in the regulations made under this Act.
30
Provided also that in the event of a complaint being disposed of after the period so
specified this District Forum shall record in writing, the reasons for the same at the time
of disposing of the said complaint.
(3B) Where during the pendency of any proceeding before the District Forum, it appears
to it necessary, it may pass such interim order as is just and proper in the facts and
circumstances of the case).
(4) For the purposes of this section, the District Forum shall have the same powers as are
vested in a civil court under Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 while trying a suit in respect
of the following matters, namely:-
(i) the summoning and enforcing the attendance of any defendant or witness and
examining the witness on oath,
(ii) the discovery and production of any document or other material object producible as
evidence,
(iii) the reception of evidence on affidavits,
(iv) the requisitioning of the report Qf the concerned analysis or test from the appropriate
laboratory or from any other relevant source.
(v) issuing of any commission for the examination of any witness, and
(vi) any other matter which may be prescribed.
(5) Every proceeding before the District Forum shall be deemed to be a judicial
proceeding within the meaning of sections 193 and 228 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of
1860), and the district Forum shall be deemed to be a civil court for the purposes of
section'" 195, and Chapter XXVI of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974).
1[(6) Where the complainant is a consumer referred to in sub-clause (iv) of clause (b) of
sub-section (1) of section 2, the provisions of rule 8 of order I of the First Schedule to the
31
Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of1908) shall apply subject to the modification that
every reference therein to a suit or decree shall be construed as a reference to a complaint
or the order of the District Forum thereon.]
(7) In the event of death of a complainant who is a consumer or of the opposite party
against whom the complaint has been filed, the provisions of Order XXII of the First
Scheduled to the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908) shall apply subject to the
modification that every reference therein to the plaintiff and the defendant shall be
construed as reference to a complainant or the opposite party, as case may be.)
COMMENTS
(i) When the case is not a simple case of deficiency in service and involves determination
of complex questions of facts and law, which cannot be satisfactorily determined by the
redressal agency .in the time frame provided under the Rules, it would be better for the
complainant to seek redressal of his grievances in a Civil Court, if so advised; Harbans &
Co. v. State Bank of India; II (1994) CPJ 476: 1994
(1) CPR 381.
(ii) If "fraud" is alleged, it is desirable that the complainant should be directed to Civil
Court as investigation about such fraud is required to be done; Jayantilal Keshavlal
Chauhan v. The National Insurance Co. Ltd., 1994 (I) CPR 396.
(iii) A consumer knocking at the door of the redressal agencies under the Act for relief in
a consumer dispute must do so with clean hands; Sagli Ram v. General Manager, United
India Insurance Co. Ltd., II (1994) CPJ 444: 1994 (I) CPR 434.
32
14. Finding of the District Forum.-{l) If, after the proceeding conducted under section
13, the District Forum is satisfied that the goods complained against suffer from any of
the defects specified in the complaint or that any of the allegations contained in the
complaint about the services are proved, it shall issue an order to the opposite party
directing him to 2[do] one or more of the following things, namely:- .
(a) to remove the defect pointed but by the appropriate laboratory from the goods in
question;
(b) to replace the goods with new goods of similar description which shall be free from
any defect;
(c) to return to the complainant the price, or, as the case may be, the charges paid by the
complainant;
(d) to pay such amount as may be awarded by it as compensation to the consumer for any
loss or injury suffered by the consumer due to the negligence of the opposite party;
(Provided that the District Forum shall have the power to grant punitive damages in such
circumstances as it deems fit: )
I. Ins. by Act 50 of 1993, sec. 11 (w.e.f.18-6-1993).
2. Sub. by Act 50 of 1993, sec. 12 (w.e.f: 18-6-1993). -
1[(e) to remove the defects in goods or deficiencies in the services in question;
(f) to discontinue the unfair trade practice or the restrictive trade practice or not to repeat
them;
(g) not to offer the hazardous goods for sale;
(h) to withdraw the hazardous goods from being offered for sale;
(ha) to cease manufacture of hazardous goods and to desist from offering services which
are hazardous in nature;
33
(hb) to pay such sum as may be determined by it, if it is of the opinion that loss or injury
has been suffered by a large number of consumers who are not identifiable conveniently:
Provided that the minimum amount of sum so payable shall not be less than five per cent
of the value of such defective goods sold or services provided, as the case may be, to such
consumers:
Provided further that the amount so obtained shall be credited in favour of such person
and utilized in such manner as may be prescribed;
(hc) to issue corrective advertisement to neutralize the effect of misleading advertisement
at the cost of the opposite party responsible for issuing such misleading advertisement;)
(i) to provide for adequate costs to parties.]
2[(2) Every proceeding referred to in sub-section (1) shall be conducted by the President
of the District Forum and at least one member thereof sitting together:
Provided that where a member, for any reason, is unable to conduct a proceeding, till it is
completed, the President and the other member shall continue the proceeding from the
stage at which it was last heard by the previous member.)
(2A) Every order made by the District Forum under sub-section (l)shall be signed by its
President and the member or members who conducted the proceeding:
Provided that where the proceeding is conducted by the President and one member and
they differ on any point or points, they shall state the point or points on which they differ
and refer the same to the other member for hearing on such point or points and the
opinion of the majority shall be the order of the District Forum.]
(3) Subject to the foregoing provisions, the procedure relating to the conduct of the
meetings of the District Forum, its sittings and other matters shall be such as may be
prescribed by the State Government.
34
COMMENTS
(i) Compensation is to be given for loss or injury suffered by a consumer, due to
negligence of the opposite party; S.K. Lakhotia v. National Insurance Co. Ltd., 1994 (I)
CPR 43.
(ii) The party to be awarded compensation has not only to show deficiency in service but
also the negligence of the other party and without the finding of negligence there cannot
be any award; Director, Himachal Institute of Engineering & Technology v --
Ani1_KumarGupta, 1994 (I) CPR 182.
(iii) If a consumer sustained any loss or damage actually, he is entitled to compensation;
Padmana Dash v. Divisional Rly. Manager, S.E. Rly., 1994 (I) CPR 77.
(iv) The Fora have no jurisdiction to pass interim order. The complaint was filed to
restrain a public issue. It was also held that unsuccessful applicants, :who have not been
allotted any shares cannot prefer a complaint under the Act; Morgan Stanley v. Kartlk
Das, II (1994) CPJ 7 (SC).
(v) Delay in delivery after booking of a car is no deficiency; Mis. Maruti Udyog Ltd, v.
Mrs. Bhuvana Viswaiiathan, II (1993) CPJ 172 (NC).
(vi) Redressal forums have no jurisdiction in matters involving outright sale of
immovable property at an auction;
Allied (Garments) Exports Industries Pvt, Ltd. v. D.D.A., II (1992) CPJ 505 (NC).
(vii) Consumer Forums have no jurisdiction to pass interim orders; District Manager,
Telephones v. Mis. Munilal
Erij Mohan, 1(1993) CPJ 41 (NC).
1. Ins.byAct50of1993,sec.12(w.e.f.18-6-19~3).
2. Subs. by Act 34 of 1991, Sec. 2 (w.e.f. 15-6-1991).
35
15. Appeal.-Any person aggrieved by an order made by the District Forum may prefer an
appeal against such order to the State Commission within a period of thirty days from the
date of the order, in such form and manner as may be prescribed:
Provided that the State commission may entertain an appeal after the expiry of the said
period of thirty days If it is satisfied that there was sufficient cause for not filing it within
that period.
(Provided further that no appeal by a person, who is required to pay any amount in terms
of an order of the District Forum, shall be entertained by the State Commission unless the
appellant has deposited in the prescribed manner fifty per cent of that amount of twenty-
five thousand rupees, whichever is less.)
COMMENTS
(i) Providing cross objections at appellate stage cannot be made applicable to the
proceedings under the Act, hence cross objections are not maintainable as these were not
filed before the District Forum; Arvinder Singh Chawla v. Kullbhushan, 2001 (1) CPR
387.
(ii) the words ―sufficient cause‖, though deserves to receive a liberal interpretation, yet, a
just and equitable balance has to be maintained between the right secured by the
respondent as a result of expiry of the prescribed period of limitation and the injustice of
depriving the appellant of a adjudication of his grievances on the merit of his appeal for
causes beyond his reasonable control, which means the cause in bona fide and beyond the
control of the appellant. Though, no hard and fast line can be drawn as to what affords
`sufficient causes‘ in a given case, yet, again as per settled law, any cause which prevents
a person from approaching the court within the time is `sufficient cause‘. In doing so, it is
36
the test of a reasonable man in normal circumstances which has to be applied; Pradeep
Kumar v. Assistant Finance Officer, Delhi Vidhut Board, 2001
(1) CPR 9.
(iii) The appellate fora constituted under the Act should not dismiss the appeal merely on
the ground of default of appearance of the appellant but the merits of the case should be
considered on the basis of the material available before them and thereafter pass
appropriate order in the appeal; General Manager. Telecom v. Jyantilal Hemchand
Gandhi, 1993 (III) CPR 155.
(iv) Ordinarily, the appellate Court does not interfere with the compensation awarded
unless it is too inadequate or too excessive; Namlada v. Suresh Chandra Mittal, 1993 (I)
AIR 631.
16. Composition of the State Commission.-{ 1) Each State Commission shall consist of-
(a) a person who is or has been a Judge of a High Court, appointed by the State
Government, who shall be its President:
1[Provided that no appointment under this clause shall be made except after consultation
with the Chief Justice of the High Court;]
(b) not less than two, and not more than such number of members, as may be prescribed,
and one of who shall be a woman, who shall have the following qualifications, namely:-
(i) be not less than thirty-five years of age;
(ii) possess a bachelor‘s degree from a recognized university; and
(iii) be persons of ability, integrity and standing, and have adequate knowledge and
experience of at least ten years in dealing with problems relating to economics, law,
commerce, accountancy, industry, public affairs or administration:
37
Provided that not more than fifty per cent of the members shall be from amongst persons
having a judicial background.
Explanation : For the purposes of this clause, the expression ―persons having a judicial
background‖ shall mean persons having knowledge and experience for at least a period of
ten years as a presiding officer at the district level court or any tribunal at equivalent
level:
Provided further that a person shall be disqualified for appointment as a member, if he –
opinion of the State Government, involves moral turpitude; or
(e) has, in the opinion of the State Government, such financial or other interest, as is
likely to affect prejudicially the discharge by him of his functions as a member; or
(f) has such other disqualifications as may be prescribed by the State Government.)
(1A) Every appointment under Sub-section (1) shall be made by the State Government on
the recommendation of a Selection Committee consisting of the following members,
namely:-
(i) President of the State Commission -Chairman.
(ii) Secretary of the Law Department of the State -Member.
(iii) Secretary, incharge of Department [dealing with consumer affairs in the State -
Member.]
38
Provided that where the President of the State Commission is, by reason of absence or
otherwise, unable to act as Chairman of the Selection Committee, the State Government
may refer the matter to the Chief Justice of the High Court for nominating a sitting Judge
of that High Court to act as Chairman.
(1B) (i) The jurisdiction, powers and authority of the State Commission may be exercised
by Benches thereof.
(ii) A Bench may be constituted by the President with one or more members as the
President may deem fit.
(iii) If the members of a Bench differ in opinion on any point, the points shall be decided
according to the opinion of the majority, if there is a majority, but if the members are
equally divided, they shall state the point or points on which they differ, and make a
reference to the President who shall either hear the point or points himself or refer the
case for hearing on such point or points by one or more or the other members and such
point or points shall be decided according to the opinion of the majority of the members
who have heard the case, including those who first heard it.)
(2) The salary or honorarium and other allowances payable to, and the other terms and
conditions of service 2[* * *] of, the members of the State Commission shall be such as
may be prescribed by the State Government.
(Provided that the appointment of a member on whole-time basis shall be made by the
State Government on the recommendation of the President of the State Commission
taking into consideration such factors as may be prescribed including the work load of the
State Commission.)
3[(3) Every member of the State Commission shall hold office for a term of five years or
up to the age of sixty-seven years, whichever is earlier:
39
or up to the age of sixty-seven years, whichever is earlier, subject to the condition that he
fulfils the qualifications and other conditions for appointment mentioned in Clause (b) of
Sub-Section
(1) and such re-appointment is made on the basis of the recommendation of the Selection
Committee:
Provided further that a person appointed as a President of the State Commission shall also
be eligible for re-appointment in the manner provided in Clause (a) of Sub-section (1) of
this section:
Provided also that a member may resign his office in writing under his hand addressed to
the State Government and on such resignation being accepted, his office shall become
mentioned in Subsection
(1) in relation to the category of the member who is required to be appointed under the
provisions of Sub-section (1A) in place of the person who has resigned.
1. Ins. by Act 50 of 1993, sec. 13 (w.e f. 18-6-1993).
2. Omitted by Act 50 of 1993, sec. 13 (w.e f. 18-6-1993).
3. Ins.. by Act 50 of 1993, sec. 13 (w.e f. 18-6-1993).
(4) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (3), a person appointed as
President or as a member before the commencement of the Consumer Protection
(Amendment)
Act, 1993, shall continue to hold such office as President or member, as the case may be,
till the completion of his term.]
40
17. Jurisdiction of the State Commission.-Subject to the other provisions of this Act,
the State Commission shall have jurisdiction-
(a) to entertain-
(i) complaints where the value of the goods or services and compensation, if any, claimed
exceeds rupees 1 [exceeds rupees twenty lakhs but does not exceed rupees one crore ; )
and
(ii) appeals against the orders of any District Forum within the State; and
(b) to call for the records and pass appropriate orders in any consumer dispute which is
pending before or has been decided by any District Forum within the State, where it
appears to the State Commission that such District Forum has exercised a jurisdiction not
vested in it by law, or has failed to exercise a jurisdiction so vested or has acted in
exercise of its jurisdiction illegally or with material irregularity.
(2) A complaint shall be instituted in a State Commission within the limits of whose
jurisdiction –
(a) the opposite party or each of the opposite parties, where there are more than one, at
the time of the institution of the complaint, actually and voluntarily resides or carries on
business or has a branch office or personally works for gain; or
(b) any of the opposite parties, where there are more than one, at the time of the
institution of the complaint, actually and voluntarily resides, or carries on business or has
a branch office or personally works for gain, provided that in such case either the
permission of the State Commission is given or the opposite parties who do not reside or
carry on business or have a branch office or personally works for gain, as the case may
be, acquiesce in such institution; or
(c) the cause of action, wholly or in part, arises.)
41
COMMENTS
(i) If, in respect of the same subject matter, proceedings before the Civil Forum had been
instituted prior to the institution of the proceedings before the fora constituted under the
Act definitely gets ousted of jurisdiction; M/s. Sh. Jagannath Constructions Ltd.v.M/s.
Kotak Mahindra Pvt. Ltd., 2001 (1) CRP 1.
(ii) The State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has no jurisdiction to entertain
complaints regarding the transactions of shops/kiosks having been purchased in auction
from the Delhi Development Authority; Kashyap Constructions (Pvt.) Ltd.v. Delhi
Development Authority, 2001 (1) CPR. 128.
(iii) Even if the appeal is not maintainable, the State Commission can still treat and decide
the same as revision in exercise of its power under section 17(b) of the Act; C.R. Kataria,
Telecom District Manager v. The Consumer Disputes Redressal District Forum, 1991 (II)
CPJ 682. (17A. Transfer of cases - On the application of the complainant or of its own
motion, the State Commission may, at any stage of the proceeding, transfer any complaint
pending before the District Forum to another District Forum within the State if the
interest of justice so requires.)
(17B. Circuit Benches - The State Commission shall ordinarily function in the State
Capital but may perform its functions at such other place as the State Government may, in
consultation with the State Commission, notify in the Official Gazette, from time to time.)
18. Procedure applicable to State Commissions.-2[The provisions of Sections 12, 13
and 14 and the rules made thereunder] for the disposal of complaints by the District
Forum shall, with such modifications as may be necessary, be applicable to the disposal
of disputes by the State Commission.
42
COMMENTS
Section 11(2) (c) is not made applicable under section 18 of the Act. However, principle
in respect of territorial jurisdiction of a State Commission would be governed under the
Code of Civil Procedure; Arisetty Sanyasi Raju v. Hindustan Motors Ltd., 1992 (I) CPR
689.
19. Appeals.--Any person aggrieved by an order made by the State Commission in
exercise of its powers conferred by sub-clause (i) of clause (a) of section 17 may prefer an
appeal against such order to the National Commission within a period of thirty days from
the date of the order in such form and manner as may be prescribed:
2. Subs. by Act 50 of 1993, sec. 15 (w.e.f. ]8-6-1993).
Provided that the National Commission may entertain an appeal after the expiry of the
said period of thirty days if it is satisfied that there was sufficient cause for not filing it
within that period.
(Provided further that no appeal by a person, who is required to pay any amount in terms
of an order of the state Commission, shall be entertained by the National Commission
unless the appellant has deposited in the prescribed manner fifty per cent of the amount or
rupees thirty-five thousand, whichever is less.)
(19A Hearing of appeal - An appeal filed before the State Commission or the National
43
Commission shall be heard as expeditiously as possible and an endeavour shall be made
to finally dispose of the appeal within a period of ninety days from the date of its
admission:
Provided that no adjournment shall be ordinarily granted by the State Commission or the
National Commission, as the case may be, unless sufficient cause is shown and the
reasons for grant of adjournment have been recorded in writing by such Commission:
Provided further that the State Commission or the National Commission, as the case may
be, shall make such orders as to the costs occasioned by the adjournment as may be
provided in the regulations made under this Act:
Provided also that in the event of an appeal being disposed of after the period so
specified, the State Commission or the National Commission, as the case may be, shall
record in writing the reasons for the same at the time of disposing of the said appeal.)
20. Composition of the National Commission.-(I) The National Commission shall
consist of-
(a) a person who is or has been a Judge of the Supreme Court, to be appointed by the
Central Government, who shall be its President; -
1[Provided that no appointment under this clause shall be made except after consultation
with the Chief Justice of India;]
(b) not less than four, and not more than such number of members, as may be prescribed,
and one of whom shall be a woman, who shall have the following qualifications, namely
:-
(i) be not less than thirty-five years of age;
(ii) possess a bachelor‘s degree from a recognized university; and
44
(iii) be persons of ability, integrity and standing and have adequate knowledge and
experience of at least ten years in dealing with problems relating to economics, law,
commerce, accountancy, industry, public affairs or administration:
Provided that not more than fifty per cent of the members shall be from amongst the
persons having a judicial background.
Explanation: - For the purposes of this clause, the expression ―persons having judicial
background‖ shall mean persons having knowledge and experience for at least a period of
ten years as a presiding officer at the district level court or any tribunal at equivalent
level:
Provided further that a person shall be disqualified for appointment, if he –
opinion of the Central Government, involves moral turpitude; or
(e) has, in the opinion of the Central Government, such financial or other interest as is
likely to affect prejudicially the discharge by him of his functions as a member; or
(f) has such other disqualifications as may be prescribed by the Central Government:
l[Provided that every appointment under this clause shall be made by the Central
Government on the recommendation of a Selection Committee consisting of the
following, namely ;-
(a) a person who is a Judge of the Supreme Court, to be nominated by the Chief Justice of
India -Chairman.
45
(b) the Secretary in the Department of Legal Affairs in the Government of India -
Member.
.(c) Secretary of the Department dealing with consumer affairs in the Government of
India -Member.]
(1A) (i) The jurisdiction, powers and authority of the National Commission may be
exercised by Benches thereof.
(ii) A Bench may be constituted by the President with one or more members as the
President may deem fit.
(iii) If the members of a Bench differ in opinion on any point, the points shall be decided
according to the opinion of the majority, if there is a majority, but if the members are
equally divided, they shall state the point or points on which they differ, and make a
reference to the President who shall either hear the point or points himself or refer the
case for hearing on such point or points by one or more or the other members and such
point or points shall be decided according to the opinion of the majority of the members
who have heard the case, including those who first heard it.)
(2) The salary or honorarium and other allowances payable to and the other terms and
conditions of service 2[* * *] of the members of the National Commission shall be such
as may be prescribed by the Central Government.
3[(3)Every member of the National Commission shall hold office for a term of five years
or up to the age of seventy years, whichever is earlier and shall not be eligible for
reappointment.
or up to the age of seventy years, whichever is earlier, subject to the condition that he
fulfils the qualifications and other conditions for appointment mentioned in clause (b) of
46
sub-section (1) and such re-appointment is made on the basis of the recommendation of
the Selection
Committee:
Provided further that a person appointed as a President of the National Commission shall
also be eligible for re-appointment in the manner provided in clause (a) of sub-section (1):
Provided also that a member may resign his office in writing under his hand addressed to
the Central Government and on such resignation being accepted, his office shall become
mentioned in sub-section (1) in relation to the category of the member who is required to
be appointed under the provisions of sub-section (1A) in place of the person who has
resigned.
(4) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (3), a person appointed as a
President or as a member before the commencement of the Consumer Protection
(Amendment)
Act, 1993, shall continue to hold such office as President or member, as the case may be,
till the completion of his term.]
21. Jurisdiction of the National Commission.-Subject to the other provisions of this
Act, the National Commission shall have jurisdiction-
(a) to entertain-
(i) complaints where the value of the goods or services and compensation, if any,
2. Omitted by Act 50 of 1993, sec. 16 (w.e.f.18-6-1993).
47
3. Ins. by Act 50 of 1993, sec. 16 (w.e.f.18-6-1993). claimed exceeds rupees l[twenty
lakhs]; and
(ii) appeals against the orders of any State Commission; and
(b) to call for the records and pass appropriate orders in any consumer dispute which is
pending before or has been decided by any State Commission where it appears to the
National Commission that such State Commission has exercised a jurisdiction not vested
in it by law, or has failed to exercise a jurisdiction so vested, or has acted in the exercise
of its jurisdiction illegally or with material irregularity.
COMMENTS
The powers of National Commission are very limited; Kangara Ananth Ram v. Telecom
Distt. Engineer, (1991) I CPR 391.
2[22. Power of and procedure applicable to the National Commission.- (1) The
provisions of sections 12, 13 and 14 and the rules made thereunder for the disposal of
complaints by the District Forum shall, with such modifications as may be considered
necessary by the Commission, be applicable to the disposal of disputes by the National
Commission.
(2) Without prejudice to the provisions contained in sub-section (1), the National
Commission shall have the power to review any order made by it, when there is an error
apparent on the face of record.)
(22A. Power to set aside ex parte orders – Where an order is passed by the National
48
Commission ex parte against the opposite party or a complainant, as the case may be, the
aggrieved party may apply to the Commission to set aside the said order in the interest of
justice.
22B. Transfer of cases - On the application of the complainant or of its own motion, the
National Commission may, at any stage of the proceeding, in the interest of justice,
transfer any complaint pending before the District Forum of one State to a District Forum
of another State or before one State Commission to another State Commission.
22C. Circuit Benches - The National Commission shall ordinarily function at New
Delhi and, perform its functions at such other place as the Central Government may, in
consultation with the National Commission, notify in the official Gazette, from time to
time.
22D. Vacancy in the office of the President - When the office of President of a District
Forum, State Commission, or of the National Commission, as the case may be, is vacant
or a person occupying such office is, by reason of absence or otherwise, unable to
perform the duties of his office, these shall be performed by the senior most member of
the District Forum, the State Commission or of the National Commission, as the case may
be:
Provided that where a retired Judge of a High Court is a member of the National
Commission, such member or where the number of such members is more than one, the
seniormost person among such members, shall preside over the National Commission in
the absence of President of that Commission.)
49
23. Appeal.-Any person, aggrieved by an order made by the National Commission in
exercise of its powers conferred by sub-clause (i) of clause (a) of section 21, may prefer
an appeal against such order of the Supreme Court within a period of thirty days from the
date of the order:
Provided that the Supreme Court may entertain an appeal after the expiry of the said
period of thirty days if it is satisfied that there was sufficient cause for not filing it within
that period.
(Provided further that no appeal by a person who is required to pay any amount in terms
of an order of the National Commission shall be entertained by the Supreme Court unless
that person has deposited in the prescribed manner fifty per cent of that amount or rupees
fifty thousand, whichever is less.)
24. Finality of orders.-Every order of a District Forum, the State Commission or the
National Commission shall, if no appeal has been preferred against such order under the
provisions of this Act, be final.
3[24A. Limitation period.-{l) The District Forum, the State Commission or the National
Commission shall not admit a complaint unless it is filed within two years from the date
on which the cause of action has arisen.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), a complaint may be
entertained after the period specified in sub-section (1), if the complainant satisfies the
District Forum, the State Commission or the National Commission, as the case may be,
that he had sufficient cause for not filing the complaint within such period:
Provided that no such complaint shall be entertained unless the National Commission, the
50
State Commission or the District Forum, as the case may be, records its reasons for
condoning such delay.
24B. Administrative control.-{ 1) The National Commission shall have administrative
control over all the State Commissions in the following matters, namely :-
(i) calling for periodical return regarding the institution, disposal, pendency of cases;
(iii) issuance of instructions regarding adoption of uniform procedure in the hearing of
matters, prior service of copies of documents produced by one party to the opposite
parties, furnishing of English translation of judgments written in any language, speedy
grant of copies of documents;
(iv) generally overseeing the functioning of the State Commissions or the District Fora to
ensure that the objects and purposes of the Act are best served without in any way
interfering with their quasi-judicial freedom.
(2) The State Commission shall have administrative control over all the District For a
within its jurisdiction in all matters referred to in sub-section (1)].
24. Enforcement of orders by the Forum, the State Commission or the National
Commission.- (1) Where an interim order made under this Act is not complied with, the
District Forum or the State Commission or the National Commission, as the case may be,
may order the property of the person, not complying with such order to be attached.
51
(2) No attachment made under sub-section (1) shall remain in force for more than three
months at the end of which, if the non-compliance continues, the property attached may
be sold and out of the proceeds thereof, the District Forum or the State Commission or the
National Commission may award such damages as it thinks fit to the complainant and
shall pay the balance, if any, to the party entitled thereto.
(3) Where any amount is due from any person under an order made by a District Forum,
State Commission or the National Commission, as the case may be, the person entitled to
the amount may make an application to the Distt. Forum, the State Commission or the
National Commission, as the case may be, and such District Forum or the State
Commission and the National Commission may issue a certificate for the said amount to
the Collector of the district (by whatever name called) and the Collector shall proceed to
recover the amount in the same manner as arrears of land revenue.)
1[26. Dismissal of frivolous or vexatious complaints.-Where a complaint instituted
before the District Forum, the State Commission or, as the case may be, the National
Commission is found to be frivolous or vexatious, it shall, for reasons to be recorded in
writing, dismiss the complaint and make an order that the complainant shall pay to the
opposite party such cost, not exceeding ten thousand rupees, as may be specified in the
order.]
COMMENTS
(i) Where the complaint is mala fide, vexatious and frivolous and the opposite party has to
incur expenses for contesting the complaint, the Redressal Fora should saddle the
52
complainant with costs; K.Jayaraman v. The Poona Hospital & Research Centre, ~994 (1)
CPR 23.
(ii) Merely because no court fee is payable for lodging a complaint before the consumer
forums, parties have a tendency to misuse the provisions of the Consumer Protection
Actin respect of matters not falling within its purview. This tendency must be
discouraged; Orissa Vegetable Oil Complex Ltd. v. State of Orissa, 1994 (1) CPR
32. (i) Where the issue involved is a legal issue, the complain~ cannot said to be
frivolous; Rasikalal Mohanjpl v.
Apollo Tyres Ltd., 1992 (II) CPR 327.
1. Subs. by Act 50 of 1993, sec, 20 (w.ei. 18-6-1993).
(iii) Cost can be saddled with only in case of fraudulent or vexatious complaints; Vihol
Jaswant Singh Shivaji v. The Asstt. Branch Manager, New India Insurance Co. Ltd., 1994
(I) CPR417.
(iv) Where the issue involved is a legal issue, the complaint cannot said to be frivolous;
Rasikalal Mahonlal v.Apollo Tyres Ltd., 1992 (II) CPR 327
27. Penalties.- Where a trader or a person against whom a complaint is made l[ or the
complainant] fails or omits to comply with any order made by the District Forum, the
State Commission or the National Commission, as the case may be, such trader or person
([or complainant] shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be
less than one month but which may extend to three years, or with fine which shall not be
less than two thousands rupees but which may extend to ten thousand rupees, or with
both:
53
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of
1974), the District Forum or the State Commission or the National Commission, as the
case may be, shall have the power of a Judicial Magistrate of the first class for the trial of
offences under this Act, and on such conferment of powers, the District Forum or the
State Commission or the National Commission, as the case may be, on whom the powers
are so conferred, shall be deemed to be a Judicial Magistrate of the first class for the
purpose of the Code of Criminal Prodedure, 1973 (2 of 1974).
(3) All offences under this Act may be tried summarily by the District Forum or the State
Commission or the National Commission, as the case may be.)
27A. Appeal against order passed under section 27 – (1) Notwithstanding anything
contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 (2 of 1974), an appeal under section
27, both on facts and on law, shall lie from –
(a) the order made by the District Forum to the State Commission;
(b) the order made by the State Commission to the National Commission; and
(c) the order made by the National Commission to the supreme Court.
(2) Except as aforesaid, no appeal shall lie to any court from any order of a District
Forum or a State Commission or the National Commission.
(3) Every appeal under this section shall be preferred within a period of thirty days from
the date of an order of a District Forum or a Sate Commission or, as the case may be, the
National Commission:
Provided that the State Commission or the National Commission or the Supreme Court,
as the case may be, may entertain an appeal after the expiry of the said period of thirty
days, if, it is satisfied that the appellant had sufficient cause for not preferring the appeal
within the period of thirty days.
54
CHAPTER IV
MISCELLANEOUS
28. Protection of action taken in good faith.-No suit, prosecution or other legal
proceedings shall lie against the members oft~ District Forum, the State Commission or
the National Commission or any officer or person acting under the direction of the
District Forum, the State Commission or the National Commission for executing any
order made by it or in respect of anything which is in good faith done or intended to be
done by such member, officer or person under this Act or under any rule or order made
there under.
28A. Service of Notice, etc. - (1) All notices, required by this Act to be served, shall be
served in the manner hereinafter mentioned in sub-section (2).
(2) The service of notices may be made by delivering or transmitting a copy thereof by
registered post acknowledgment due addressed to opposite party against whom complaint
is made or to the complainant by speed post or by such courier service as are approved by
the District Forum, the State Commission or the National Commission, as the case may
be, or by any other means of transmission of documents (including FAX message).
(3) When an acknowledgment or any other receipt purporting to be signed by the opposite
party or his agent or by the complainant is received by the District Forum, the State
Commission or the National Commission, as the case may be, or postal article containing
the notice is received back by such District Forum, State Commission or the National
Commission, with an endorsement purporting to have been made by a postal employee or
by any person authorized by the courier service to the effect that the opposite party or his
agent or complainant had refused to take delivery of the postal article containing the
55
notice or had refused to accept the notice by any other means specified in Sub-section (2)
when tendered or transmitted to him, the District Forum or the State Commission or the
National Commission, as the case may be, shall declare that the notice had been duly
served on the opposite party or to the complainant.
Provided that where the notice was properly addressed, pre-paid and duly sent by
registered post acknowledgment due, a declaration referred to in this sub-section shall be
made notwithstanding the fact that the acknowledgment has been lost or mislaid , or for
any other reason, has not been received by the District Forum, the State Commission or
the National Commission, as the case may be, within thirty days from the date of issue of
notice.
(4) All notices required to be served on an opposite party or to complainant shall be
deemed to be sufficiently served, if addressed in the case of the opposite party to the
place where business or profession is carried and in case of complainant, the place where
such person actually and voluntarily resides.)
29. Power to remove difficulties.-{l) If any difficulty arises in giving effect to the
provisions of this Act, the Central Government may, by order in the Official Gazette,
make such provisions not inconsistent with the provisions of this Act as appear to it to be
necessary or expedient for removing the difficulty:
Provided that no such order shall be made after the expiry of a period of two years from
the commencement of this Act.
(2) Every order made under this section shall, as soon as may be after it is made be laid
before each House of Parliament.
(3) If any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of the Consumer Protection
56
(Amendment) Act, 2002 ,the Central Government may, by order, do anything not
inconsistent with such provisions for the purpose of removing the difficulty:
Provided that no such order shall be made after the expiry of a period of two years from
the commencement of the Consumer Protection (Amendment) Act, 2002.
(4) Every order made under sub-section (3) shall be laid before each House of
Parliament).
2[29A. Vacancies or defects in appointment not to invalidate orders.-No act or
proceeding of the District Forum, the State Commission or the National Commission
shall be invalid by reason only of the existence of any vacancy amongst its members or
any defect in the constitution thereof.]
30. Power to make rules.-{I) The Central Government may, by notification, make rules
for carrying out the provisions contained in 3[clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 2]
clause (b) of sub-section (2) of section 4, sub-section (2) of section 5, clause (vi) of sub-
section (4) of section 13, section 19, sub-section (2) of section 20 and section 22 of this
Act.
I. Ins. by Act 50 of 1993, sec. 21 (w.e.f. 18-6-1993).
(2) The State Government may, by notification, make rules for carrying out the
provisions contained in clause (b) of sub-section (2) and sub-section (4) of section 7],
clause (b) of sub-section (2) and sub-section (4) of section 8A, clause (b) of sub-section
57
(1) and sub-section 13, clause (hb) of sub-section (1) and sub-section (3) of section 14,
section 15 and clause (b) of sub-section (1) and sub-section (2) of section 16 of this Act.).
30A. Power of the National Commission to make regulations - (1) The National
Commission may, with the previous approval of the Central Government, by notification,
make regulations not inconsistent with this Act to provide for all matters for which
provision is necessary or expedient for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of
this Act.
(2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such
regulations may make provisions for the cost of adjournment of any proceeding before
the District Forum, the State Commission or the National Commission, as the case may
be, which a party may be ordered to pay.)
31. Rules and regulations to be laid before each House of Parliament.--{I) Every rule
and every regulation made under this Act shall laid, as soon as may be after it is made,
before each House of Parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days
which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if,
before the-expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive
sessions aforesaid, both Houses agree in making any modification in the rule or regulation
or both Houses agree that the rule or regulation shall thereafter have effect only in such
modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such
modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything
previously done under that rule or regulation.
(2) Every rule made by a State Government under this Act shall be laid as soon as may
58
be after it is made, before the State Legislature.
1.Ins.ByAct50of993,sec.22(w.e.f.8.6.1993)
THE CONSUMER PROTECTION RULES, 19871
In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 30 of the Consumer
Protection Act, 1986 (68 of 1986), Central Government hereby makes the following rules,
namely:-
1. Short title, extent and commencement.-{l) These rules may be called the Consumer
Protection Rules, 1987.
(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.
2. Definitions.-In these rules, unless the context otherwise requires-
(a) "Act" means the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (68 of 1986);
(b) "agent" means a person duly authorised by a party to present any complaint, appeal or
reply on its behalf before the National Commission;
(c) "appellant" means a party which makes an appeal against the order of the State
Commission;
(d) "chairman" means a chairman of the Central Consumer Protection Council established
under sub-section (1) of the section 4 of the Act;
(e) "memorandum" means any memorandum of appeal filed by the appellant;
(f) "opposite party" means a person who answers complaint or claim;
(g) "president" means the President of the National Commission;
(h) "respondent" means the person who answers any memorandum of appeal;
(i) "section" means section of the Act;
(j) "state" includes Union territories also;
59
(k) words and expressions used in the rules and not defined but defined in the Act shall
have the meanings respectively assigned to them in the Act.
2[2A. State Governments to recognise a laboratory as an appropriate laboratory.-{l)
For the purpose of obtaining recognition as an appropriate laboratory, the applicant shall
send application, in triplicate, in the proforma prescribed by the Bureau of Indian
Standards with the relevant details to the Department concerned with the consumer
protection work in the State Government.
(2) The State Government on receiving the application from the applicant, shall forward
its two copies to the Bureau of Indian Standards to assess the suitability of the laboratory
from the standards prescribed by them (Bureau of Indian Standards). The fee charged by
the Bureau of Indian Standards, for this purpose, shall be paid by the applicant.
(3) The State Government on receiving the recommendations and approval of the Bureau
of Indian Standards, shall notify that laboratory as an "appropriate laboratory" for the
purpose of Consumer Protection Act, 1986 for a period of three years.]
3. The Constitution of the Central Consumer Protection Council and the Working
Groups.-
{l) The Central Government shall, by notification in the official Gazette constitute the
Central Consumer Protection Council (herein after referred to as the Central
1. Published in the Gazette of India, Extra. Pt. II, Sec. 3(i), dated 15April,1987.
2. Ins. by G.S.R. 605 (E), dated 30th August, 1995 (w.e.f. 30-8-1995).
Council) which shall consist of 1[the following members, not exceeding 150, namely:-]
60
(a) 2[the Minister in-charge of Consumer Affairs in the Central Government] who shall
be the Chairman of the Central Council;
(b) the Minister of State (where he is not holding independent charge) or Deputy
Minister2[in charge of Consumer Affairs in the Central Government] who shall be the
Vice-Chairman of the Central Council;
(c) the 3[***] Minister in-charge of Consumer Affairs in States;
(d) eight Members of Parliament-five from the Lok Sabha and three from the Rajya
Sabha;
2[(e) the Secretary of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled
Tribes];
(f)representatives of the Central Government Departments and autonomous organisations
concerned with consumer interests-not exceeding twenty;
(g)representatives of the Consumer Organisations or consumers-not less than thirty-five;
(h) representatives of women-not less than ten;
(i) representatives of farmers, trade and industries-not exceeding twenty;
(j) persons capable of representing consumer interest not specified above-not exceeding
fifteen;
(k) the4[Secretary in-charge of Consumer Affairs in the Central Government] shall be the
member-secretary of the Central Council.
(2) The term of the Council shall be three years.
(3) Any member may, by writing under his hand to the Chairman of the Central Council,
resign from the Council. The vacancies, so caused or otherwise, shall be filled from the
same category by the Central Government and such person shall hold office so long as the
61
member whose place he fills would have been entitled to hold office, if the vacancy had
not occurred.
5[(4) For the purpose of monitoring the implementation of the recommendations of the
Central Council.and to suggest the working of the Council, the Central Government may
constitute from amongst the members of the Council, a Standing Working Group, under
the chairmanship of the Member Secretary of the Council. The Standing Working Group
shall consist of not exceeding 30 members and shall meet as and when considered
necessary by the Central Government.]
4. Procedure of the Central Council.-Under sub-section (2) of section 5, the Central
Council shall observe the following procedure in regard to the transaction of its business,-
(1) The meeting of the Central Council shall be presided over by the Chairman. In the
absence of the Chairman, the Vice-Chairman shall preside over the meeting of the Central
Council. In the absence of the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman, the Central Council
shall elect a member to preside over that meeting of the Council.
(2) Each meeting of the Central Council shall be called by giving, not less than ten days
from the date of issue, notice in writing to every member.
(3) Every notice of a meeting of the Central Council shall specify the place and the day
1. Subs. by G.S.R. 95(E), dated 27th February, 1997 (w.e.f. 27-2-1997).
2. Subs. by G.S.R. 800 (E), dated 30th December, 1993 (w.ei. 30-12-1993).
3. Omitted by G.S.R. 95(E), dated 27th February, 1997 (w.ei. 27-2-1997).
4. Subs. by G.S.R. 95(E), dated 27th February, 1997 (w.ei. 27-2-1997).
5. Ins. by G.S.R. 95(E), dated 27th February, 1997 (w.e.f. 27-2-1997).
and hour of the meeting and shall contain statement of business to be transacted thereat.
62
(4) No proceedings of the Central Council shall be invalid merely by reasons of existence
of any vacancy in or any defect in the constitution of the Council.
(5) For the purpose of performing its functions under the Act, the Central Council may
constitute from amongst its members, such working groups as it may deem necessary and
every working group so constituted shall perform such functions as are assigned to it by
the Central Council. The findings of such working groups shall be placed before the
Central Council for its consideration.
I [(6) The non-official members shall be entitled to first class or second Air-Conditioned
by all trains (including Rajdhani Express) to and fro Railway fare or actual mode of travel
whichever is less.
Outstation non-official members shall be entitled to a daily allowance of one hundred
rupees per day for attending the meetings of the Central Councilor any working group.
Local non-official members shall be paid actual conveyance, hire charges subject to a
ceiling of Rs. 75.00 per day irrespective of the classification of the city. Members of
Parliament shall be entitled to travelling and daily allowances at such rates as are
admissible to such members.]
(7) The resolution passed by the Central Council shall be recommendatory in nature.
5. Place of the National Commission.- The office of the National Commission shall be
located in the Union Territory of Delhi.
6. Working days and office hours of the National Commission.- The working days and
office hours of the National Commission shall be the same as that of the Central
Government.
63
7. Seal and emblem.- The official seal and emblem of the National Commission shall be
such as the Central Government may specify.
8. Sitting of the National Commission.-The sitting of the National Commission as and
when necessary, shall be convened by the President.
9. Staff of the National Commission.- The Central Government shall appoint such staff
as may be necessary to assist the National Commission in its day to day work and to
perform such other functions as are provided under the Act and these rules or assigned to
it by the President. The salary payable to such staff shall be defrayed out of the
Consolidated Fund of India.
10. Additional powers of the National Commission, State Commission and District
Forum.-
( I) The National Commission, the State Commission and the District Forum shall have
power to require any person,-
(a) to produce before, and allow to be examined and kept by an officer of the National
Commission, the State Commission or the District Forum, as the case may be,
specified in this behalf, such books, accounts, documents or commodities in the
custody or under the control of the person so required as may be specified or
described in the requisition, if the examination of such books, accounts, documents or
commodities are required for the purpose of this Act;
64
(b) to furnish to an officer so specified, such information as may be required for the
purpose of this Act.
1. Subs. by G.S.R. 759(£), dated 21st November, 1995 (w.e.f. 21-11-1995).
(2)(a) Where during any proceedings under this Act, the National Commission, the State
Commission or the District Forum, as the case may be, has any ground to believe that any
book, paper, commodity or document which may be required to be produced in such
proceedings, are being or may be, destroyed, mutilated, altered, falsified or secreted, it
may, by written order, authorise any officer to exercise the power of entry and search of
any premises. Such authorised officer may also seize such books, papers, documents or
commodities as are required for the purpose of this Act:
Provided that such seizure shall be communicated to the National Commission, the State
Commission or the District Forum as the case may be, as soon as it is made or within a
period not exceeding 72 hours of making such seizure .after specifying the reasons in
writing for making such seizure.
(b) The National Commission, the State Commission or the District Forum, as the case
may be, on examination of such seized documents or commodities, as the case may be,
may order the retention thereof or may return it to the party concerned.
11. Salaries, honorarium and other allowances of the President and Members of the
National Commission.-I[(I) The President of the National Commission shall be entitled
to salary, allowances and other perquisites as woe available to a sitting Judge of the
Supreme Court and other members, if sitting on whole-time basis, shall receive a
consolidated honorarium of 2[ten thousand rupees] per month or if sitting on part-time
basis, a consolidated honorarium of 2[five hundred rupees] per day of sitting].
65
(2) The President and the members shall be entitled to travelling and daily allowances on
official tours at the same rates as are admissible to group' A "officers of the Central
Government.
3[(2A) The president and tl1e members of the National Commission shall be entitled to
conveyance allowance of one hundred fifty rupees per day of its sitting or a sum of one
thousand and five hundred rupees per month, as may be opted by them.]
(3) The honorarium or the salary, as the case may be, and oilier allowances shall be
defrayed out of the Consolidated Fund of India.
12. Terms and conditions of service of the President and members of the National
Commission.-(1) Before appointment, the President and a member of the National
Commission shall have to take an undertaking that he does not and will not have any such
financial or other interest as is likely to affect prejudicially his functions as such member.
4[(2) Every member oftl1e National Commission shall hold office for a term of five years
or up to the age of seventy years, whichever is earlier and shall not be eligible for
reappointment.]
(3) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-rule (2) the President or a member may,-
(a) by writing under his hand and addressed to the Central Government resign his office
at any time;
(b) be removed from his office in accordance with the provisions of rule 13.
(4) The terms and conditions of service of the President and tl1e members shall not be
varied to their disadvantage during tl1eir tenure of office.
(5) A casual vacancy caused by resignation or removal of the President or any other
1 Subs. by G.S.R. 658(E), dated 14th July, 1987 (w.e.t: 14-7-1987).
66
2. Subs. by G.S.R. 88(E), dated 24t11 February, 1998 (w.e.t: 24-2-1998).
3. Ins. by G.S.R. 88(E), dated 24th February, 1998 (w.e.t: 24-2-1998).
4. Subs. by G.S.R. 522(E), dated 22nd June, 1994 (w.e.t: 22-6-1994).
member of the National Commission under sub-rule (3) or otherwise shall be filled by
fresh appointment.
1[(6) When the President of the National Commission is unable to discharge the functions
owing 10 absence, illness or any other cause, the senior most member of the National
Commission with judicial background, if authorised so to do by the President in writing,
shall discharge the functions of the President until the day on which the President resumes
the charge of his functions.]
2[(7) The President or any member ceasing to hold office as such shall not hold any
appointment in or be connected with the management or administrations of an
organisation which have been the subject of any proceeding under the Act during his
tenure for a period of 5 years from the date on which he ceases to hold such office].
13. Removal of President or members from office in certain circumstances.-{l) The
Central Government may remove from office, the President or any member, who,-
(a) has been adjudged as an insolvent; or
(b) has been convicted of an offence which, in the opinion of the Central Government,
involves moral turpitude; or
(c) has become physically or mentally incapable of acting as the President or the
member; or
(d) has acquired such financial or other interest as is likely to affect prejudicially his
functions as the President or a member; or
(e) has so abused his position as to render his continuance in office prejudicial to the
67
public interest 3[;or]
4[ (f) remain absent in three consecutive sittings except for reasons beyond his control.]
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-rule (1), the :President or any member
shall not be removed from his office on the grounds specified in S[clauses (d), (e) and (f)]
of that sub-rule except on an inquiry held by Central Government in accordance with such
procedure as it may specify in this behalf and finds the President or a member to be guilty
of such ground.
14. Procedure to be followed by the National Commission.-{l) A complaint containing
the following particulars shall be presented by the complainant in person or by his agent
to the National Commission or be sent by registered post, addressed to the National
Commission:-
(a) the name, description and the address of the complainant;
(b) the name, description and address of the opposite party or parties, as the case may be,
so far as they can be ascertained;
(c) the facts relating to the complaint and when and where it arose;
(d) documents in support of the allegations contained in the complaint;
(e) the relief which the complainant claims.
I. Subs. by G.S.R. 95(E), dated 27th February, 1997 (w.e.f. 27-2-1997).
2. Sub-rules (7), (8) and (9) of Rule 12, omitted and sub-rule (10) re-numbered as sub-
rule (7) by G.S.R.
No. 533(E), dated 14th August, 1991(w.e.f. 14-8-1991).
3. Added by G.S.R. 95(E), dated 27th February, 1997 (w.e.f. 27-2-1997).
4. Ins. by G.S.R. 95(E), dated 27th February, 1997 (w.e.f. 27-2-1997).
5. Subs. by G.S.R. 95(£), dated 27th February, 1997 (w.e.f. 27-2-1997).
68
(2) The National Commission shall, in disposal of any complaint before it, as far as
possible, follow the procedures laid down in sub-sections (1) and (2) of section 13 in
relation to the complaint received by the District Forum.
(3) On the date of hearing or any other date to which hearing could be adjourned, it shall
be obligatory on the parties or their agents to appear before the National Commission.
Where the complainant or his agent fails to appear before the National Commission on
such days, the National Commission may in its discretion either dismiss the complaint for
default or decide it on merits. Where the opposite party or its agent fails to appear on the
date of hearing the National Commission may decide the complaint ex-parte.
(4) The National Commission may, on such terms as it deems fit and at any stage of the
proceedings, adjourn the hearing of the complaint but the complaint shall be decided as
far as possible within a period of three months from the date of notice received by
opposite party where complaint does not require analysis or testing of commodities and
within five months if it requires analysis or testing of commodities.
(5) If after the proceedings conducted under sub-rule (3), the National Commission is
satisfied with the allegations contained in the complaint, it shall issue orders to the
opposite party or parties, as the case may be, directing him or them to take one or more of
the things as mentioned in sub-section (1) of section 14. The National Commission shall
also have the power to direct that any order passed by it, where no appeal has been
preferred under section 23 or where the order of the National Commission has been
affirmed by the Supreme Court under that section, be published in the Official Gazette or
through any other media and no legal proceedings shall lie against the National
Commission or any media for such publication.
69
15. Procedure for hearing the appeal.-(I) Memorandum shall be presented by the
appellant or his agent to the National Commission in person or be sent by registered post
addressed to the Commission.
(2) Every memorandum filed under sub-rule (1) shall be in legible handwriting preferably
typed and shall set forth concisely under distinct heads, the grounds of appeal without any
argument or narrative and such grounds shall be numbered consecutively.
(3) Each memorandum shall be accompanied by a certified copy of the order of the State
Commission appealed against and such of the documents as may be required to support
grounds of objection mentioned in the memorandum.
(4) When the appeal is presented after the expiry of the period of limitation as specified
in the Act, the memorandum shall be accompanied by an application supported by an
affidavit setting forth the facts on which the appellant relies to satisfy the National
Commission that he has sufficient cause for not preferring the appeal within the period of
limitation.
(5) The appellant shall submit six copies of the memorandum to the Commission for
official purpose.
(6) On the date of hearing or on any other day to which hearing may be adjourned, it shall
be obligatory for the parties or their agents to appear before the National Commission. If
appellant or his agent fails to appear on such date, the National Commission may in its
discretion either dismiss the appeal or decide ex-parte on merits. If the respondent or his
agent fails to appear on such date, the National Commission shall proceedex-parte and
shall decide the appeal on merits of the case.
(7) The appellant shall not, except by leave of the National Commission, urge or be heard
in support of any ground of objection not set forth in the memorandum but the National
70
Commission. in deciding the appeal, may not confine to the grounds of objection set forth
in the memorandum:
Provided that the Commission shall not rest its decision on any other ground other than
those specified in the memorandum unless the party who may be affected thereby, has
been given, an opportunity of being heard by the National Commission.
(8) The National Commission, on such terms as it may think fit and at any stage, adjourn
the hearing of the appeal, but not more than one adjournment shall ordinarily be given
and the appeal should be decided as far as possible, within 90 days from the first date of
hearing.
1[(9) The order of the National Commission shall be communicated to the parties
concerned free of cost].
2[l5A. Sitting of the National Commission and signing of orders.-(I) Every proceeding
of the National Commission shall be conducted by the President 3[or the senior most
member authorised under rule 12] and at least two members thereof sitting together:
Provided that where the member or members for any reason are unable to conduct the
proceeding till it is completed, the President 3[or the senior most member authorised
under rule 12] shall conduct such proceeding de novo.
(2) Every order made by the National Commission shall be signed by the President 3[or
the senior most member authorised under rule 12] and at least two members who
conducted the proceeding and if there is any difference of opinion among themselves, the
opinion of majority Shall be the order of the National Commission:
Provided that where the proceeding is conducted by the President 3[ or the senior most
71
member authorised under rule 12] and three members thereof and they differ on any point
or points, they shall state the point or points on which they differ and refer the same to the
other member for hearing on such point or points and such point or points shall be
decided accordingly
to the opinion of the majority of the National Commission.]
1. Subs. by G.S.R. 533(E), dated 14th August, 1991 (w,e.f, 14-8-1991).
2. Ins. by G.S.R 533(E) dated 14th August, 1991 (w.e.f. 14-8-1991).
3. Ins. by G.S.R. 95(E); dated 27th February, 1997 (w.e.f. 27-2-1997).
72
CONSUMER PROTECTION IN INDIA SOME REFLECTIONS
The growing interdependence of the world economy and international character of many
business practices have contributed to the development of universal emphasis on
consumer rights protection and promotion. Consumers, clients and customers world over,
are demanding value for money in the form of quality goods and better services. Modern
technological developments have no doubt made a great impact on the quality,
availability and safety of goods and services. But the fact of life is that the consumers are
still victims of unscrupulous and exploitative practices. Exploitation of consumers
assumes numerous forms such as adulteration of food, spurious drugs, dubious hire
purchase plans, high prices, poor quality, deficient services, deceptive advertisements,
hazardous products, black marketing and many more. In addition, with revolution in
information technology newer kinds of challenges are thrown on the consumer like cyber
crimes, plastic money etc., which affect the consumer in even bigger way. ‗Consumer is
sovereign‘ and ‗customer is the king‘ are nothing more than myths in the present scenario
particularly in the developing societies. However, it has been realised and rightly so that
the Consumer protection is a socio- economic programme to be persued by the
government as well as the business as the satisfaction of the consumers is in the interest
of both. In this context, the government, however, has a primary responsibility to protect
the consumers‘ interests and rights through appropriate policy measures, legal structure
and administrative framework.
73
CONSUMERISM: CONCEPTUAL CONSIDERATION
In the good olden days the principle of ‗Caveat emptor‟, which meant buyer beware
governed the relationship between seller and the buyer. In the era of open markets buyer
and seller came face to face, seller exhibited his goods, buyer thoroughly examined them
and then purchased them. It was assumed that he would use all care and skill while
entering into transaction. The maxim relieved the seller of the obligation to
makedisclosure about the quality of the product. In addition, the personal relation
between the buyer and the seller was one of the major factors in their relations. But with
the growth of trade and its globalization the rule no more holds true. It is now impossible
for the buyer to examine the goods before hand and most of the transactions are
concluded by correspondence. Further on account of complex structure of the modern
goods, it is only the producer /seller who can assure the quality of goods. With
manufacturing activity becoming more organised, the producers / sellers are becoming
more strong and organised whereas the buyers are still weak and unorganised. In the age
of revolutionised information technology and with the emergence of e-commerce related
innovations the consumers are further deprived to a great extent. As a result buyer is
being misled, duped and deceived day in and day out.
Mahatma Gandhi, the father of nation, attached great importance to what he described as
the ―poor consumer‖, who according to him should be the principal beneficiary of the
consumer movement. He said:
―A Consumer is the most important visitor on our premises. He is not dependent on us we
are on him. He is not an interruption to our work; he is the purpose of it. We are not doing
a favour to a consumer by giving him an SOME REFLECTIONS 5 opportunity. He is
doing us a favour by giving an opportunity to serve him.‖
74
Inspite of these views consumerism is still in its infancy in our country, thanks to the
sellers market and the government monopoly in most services. Consumer awareness is
own due to the apathy and lack of education among the masses. No one has told them
about their rights – to be informed about product quality, price, protection against unsafe
products, access to variety of goods at competitive prices, consumer education etc. What
consumerism lacks here is education and information resources, testing facilities,
competent leadership, price control mechanism, and adequate quasi judicial machinery.
The providers of goods and services have been reluctant to give due consideration to
consumer interest protection.
In present situation, consumer protection, though as old as consumer exploitation, has
assumed greater importance and relevance. Consumerism is a recent and universal
phenomenon. It is a social movement. Consumerism is all about protection of the interests
of the consumers1. According to McMillan Dictionary (1985) ―Consumerism is
concerned with protecting consumers from all organisations with which there is
exchanged relationship. It encompasses the set of activities of government, business,
independent organisations and concerned consumers that are designed to protect the
rights of consumers‖. The Chamber‘s Dictionary (1993) defines Consumerism as the
protection of the interests of the buyers of goods and services against defective or
dangerous goods etc. ―Consumerism is a movement or policies aimed at regulating the
roducts or services, methods or standards of
1 The new Shorter Oxford Dictionary, 1993, p.490. The word ―Consumerism‖ is also
used in pejorative sense meaning ‗preoccupation with consumer goods and their
acquisition.‘ However, its use in the present work is in a positive sense.
75
manufacturers, sellers and advertisers in the interest of buyers, such regulation may be
institutional, statutory or embodied in a voluntary code occupied by a particular industry
or it may result more indirectly from the influence of consumer organisations‖2
As commonly understood consumerism refers to wide range of activities of government,
business and independent organisations designed to protect rights of the consumers.
Consumerism is a process through which the consumers seek redress, restitution and
remedy for their dissatisfaction and frustration with the help of their all organised or
unorganised efforts and activities. It is, in-fact a social movement seeking to protect the
rights of consumers in relation to the producers of goods and providers of services. In-fact
consumerism today is an all-pervasive term meaning nothing more than people‘s search
for getting better value for their money. Consumer is the focal point of any business.
Consumers‘ satisfaction will benefit not only business but government and society as
well. So consumerism should not be considered as consumers‘ war against business. It is
a collective consciousness on the part of consumers, business, government and civil
society to enhance consumers‘ satisfaction and social welfare which will in turn benefit
all of them and finally make the society a better place to live in.
There are various components of consumerism. First and foremost is self-protection by
consumers. Consumer must be aware of his rights, raise voice against exploitation and
seek redressal of his grievances. Consumers‘ consciousness determines the effectiveness
of consumerism. It is the duty of the consumer to identify his rights and to protect them.
Voluntary Consumer Organisations engaged in organising consumers and encouraging
them to safeguard their interests is another important element of consumer movement.
The success of consumerism lies in the realisation of the business that
76
2 Encyclopaedia Brittannica, Micropaedia), Vol. III, p.108.
SOME REFLECTIONS 7
there is no substitute for voluntary self-regulations. Little attention from the business will
not only serve consumers‘ interest but will also benefit them. Some businesses in India
have come together to adopt a code of conduct for regulating their own activities.
Regulation of business through legislation is one of the important means of protecting the
consumers. . Consumerism has over the time developed into a sound force designed to aid
and protect the consumer by exerting, legal, moral and economic pressure on producers
and providers in some of the developed countries.
Consumer Protection: International Scenario
One could be forgiven for thinking that consumerism was largely invented by Mr. Ralph
Nader, the well-known American Advocate. History of protection of Consumer‘s rights
by law has long been recognised dating back to 1824. Every year the 15th of March is
observed as the World Consumer Rights Day. On that day in 1962 President John F.
Kennedy of U.S. called upon the U.S. Congress to accord its approval to the Consumer
Bill of Rights. They are (i) right to choice; (ii) right to information, (iii) right to safety and
(iv) right to be heard. President Gerald R. Ford added one more right i.e. right to
consumer education. Further other rights such as right to healthy environment and right to
basic needs (Food, Clothing and Shelter) were added. In India we have recently started
celebrating 24th December every year as the National Consumer Rights Day.
In the history of the development of consumer policy, April 9, 1985 is a very significant
date for it was on that day that the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a set
of general guidelines3 for consumer protection and the Secretary General of the United
77
Nations was authorised to persuade member countries to adopt 3 General Assembly
Resolution 39/ 85 these guidelines through policy changes or law. These guidelines
constitute a comprehensive policy framework outlining what governments need to do to
promote consumer protection in following seven areas:
i. Physical safety;
ii. Protection and Promotion of the consumer economic
interest;
iii. Standards for the safety and quality of consumer goods and services;
iv. Distribution facilities for consumer goods and services;
v. Measures enabling consumers to obtain redress;
vi. Measures relating to specific areas (food, water and pharmaceuticals) and
vii Consumer education and information programme.
Though not legally binding, the guidelines provide an internationally recognised set of
basic objectives particularly for governments of developing and newly independent
countries for structuring and strengthening their consumer protection policies and
legislations. These guidelines were adopted recognizing that consumers often face
imbalances in economic terms, educational levels and bargaining power and bearing in
mind that consumers should have the right of access to non hazardous products as well as
the importance of promoting just, equitable and sustainable economic and social
development. These U.N. guidelines for Consumer Protection can assist in the
identification of priorities particularly in the light of emerging trends in a globalised and
liberalised world economy.
The U.N. guidelines were never intended to be a static document and required to be
revisited in the changed social, political and economic circumstances. On reexamination
78
of U.N. guidelines in 1999 ― sustainable consumption ‖ was also included in the list
which is certainly an important step in this direction. It would perhaps be
SOME REFLECTIONS 9 apt to highlight that long back Mahatma Gandhi said that‖ the
rich must live more simply so that the poor may simply live.‖ There cannot be a better
expression championing the cause of sustainable consumption. It may not be out of place
to mention that the increased internationalisation of cooperation is also a part of the
globalisation process. Rules adopted for corporations trading in OECD countries for the
protection of the interests of consumers can now also be applied to their conduct for the
protection of the interests of the consumers in non-OECD countries. A new investment
guideline from the OECD spells out principles to be applied by multinational corporations
dealing with consumers. The Guidelines, which deal with fair business, marketing and
advertising practices as well as safety and quality of goods and services lend themselves
to consumer monitoring and campaigning. Possibilities for action include twinning
arrangements in which groups from non- OECD countries work with groups from the
home countries of multinational corporations to hold them accountable for failure to
adhere to the Guidelines.
Before moving in the direction of consideration of provisions of the Consumer Protection
Act, 1986, perhaps it would be better to summarise the factors responsible for legislations
to protect consumer‘s rights. These factors are as follows:
� ch modern technology has made
available;
� system;
� in advertising and
other forms of production;
79
� relationship of buyer and seller as a result of mass marketing
methods; and
Consumer Protection Act, 1986: Some Reflections.
It may be mentioned at the outset that any one interested in the task of consumer
protection movement has to be well versed in various laws and not merely with the
Consumer Protection Act, 1986. He should have knowledge of laws relating to Contract,
Tort, Railways, Telegraphs, Telephones, Post, Air Travel, Insurance, Electricity, Water,
Housing, Medicine, Banking, Finance, Engineering, Motor Vehicles, Hotel Industry,
Entertainment, Cooperative Societies, Tourism Agencies, Sales Tax, Central Excise,
Limitation, Transport etc. There is no limit to subjects, which may come before a
Consumer Forum / Commission for decision. In addition, one should also be well versed
with the laws relating to unfair trade practice and restrictive trade practices. Be it as it
may.
In India various Acts intended to protect the consumers against different forms of
exploitation were enacted, such as, the Indian Penal Code, 1860; Indian Contract Act,
1872; Drugs Control Act, 1950; Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, 1951;
Indian Standards Institution (certification marks) Act, 1952; Drug and Magic
Remedies (Objectional Advertisement) Acts, 1954; Prevention of Food
Adulteration Act, 1954; Essential commodities Act, 1955; Trade and
Merchandise Marks Act, 1958; Hire purchase Act, 1972; Cigarettes
(Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 1975;
80
Prevention of Black-marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities
Act, 1980; Essential commodities (Special Provisions) Act, 1981; Multi-State-Co-
operative Societies Act, 1984; Standard of Weights and Measures (Enforcement) Act,
1985; and Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. Some significant
consumer protection enactments of pre-independence time are the Sale of Goods Act,
1930; Agriculture Produce (Grading and Marketing) Act, 1837 and Drugs and Cosmetics
Act, 1940. SOME REFLECTIONS 11 Except for the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade
Practices (MRTP) Act (now repealed) all the other Acts were mainly punitive and
preventive in nature. The consumer could not seek remedy or redressal against the
offending trader or manufacturer and negligent, careless providers of services. However
the MRTP Commission enabled the consumer to approach it in case of complaints.
Inspite of these Acts the consumers did not have any effective mechanism or institutional
arrangement for the speedy redressal of their grievances and also the lack of effective
popular movement isolated the consumer and his plight only increased.
Seeing the pressure mounting from various consumer protection groups and the consumer
themselves the Parliament enacted the Consumer Protection Act in 1986.
A latest addition to the list of legislations is the Competition Act, 2002. A high level
Committee was constituted in October 1999 under the Chairmanship of Shri SVS
Raghavan, which submitted its eport on May 2000. The committee framed the new
Competition Policy which proposed repeal of Monopolies and Restrictive trade Practices
Act, 1969 and enactment of a new Competition Law and establishment of a regulatory
authority Competition Commission for implementation of Competition Act. On
recommendation of the Committee the Competition Act was passed and the Monopolies
and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969 has been repealed.
81
The Competition Act is a comprehensive legislation, which deals with matters of
competition and monopolies.
Objectives of the Act
The purpose of the Act is to provide for the establishment of the Commission :
· To prevent practices having adverse effect on competition;
· To promote and sustain competition in markets;
· To protect the interests of consumers and
· To ensure freedom of trade carried on by other participants in
the markets, in India
The major focus of the Act is on the following areas:
· Prohibition of anti competitive agreements;
· Prohibition against abuse of dominant position;
· Regulation of combinations;
· Advocacy of competition policy.
The legislative intention behind this Act is to clear all hurdles in promoting competition
among business units whether of domestic or foreign origin.
The Consumer Protection Act of 1986 was enacted with an objective to provide better
protection of the interests of the Consumers, to make provision for the establishment of
Consumer Councils and other authorities for the settlement of consumer disputes. This is
indeed a very unique and highly progressive piece of Social Welfare Legislation. The
provisions of this Act are intended to provide effective and efficient safeguards to the
consumers against various types of exploitations and unfair dealings. Unlike other laws,
82
which are basically punitive or preventive in nature, the provisions of the Act are
compensatory. It is a matter of great satisfaction that we can legitimately boast that we
now have in our country a statute, which provides more effective protection to the
consumers than any corresponding legislation in force in countries, which are considered
to be much more advanced and industralised. CPA has SOME RFLECTIONS 13 been in
operation for about 18 years. A number of deficiencies and shortcoming in respect of its
operation have come to light thereby requiring amendments thrice, still leaving scope for
further improvements. Despite all this it is a handy weapon for consumers to ensure
accountability of producers of goods and providers of services. In the International
Conference on Consumer Protection held in Malaysia in 1997, the Indian Consumer
Protection Act was described as one ―which has set in motion a revolution in the field of
consumer rights, the parallel of which has not been seen anywhere else in the world‖.
83
STATUS OF COMPETITION LAWS AND THEIR IMPLEMENTATION
IN THE ASIA-PACIFIC REGION: A BRIEF REPORT
Introduction
It is no longer an issue whether a competition law is needed for countries in their
economic development path. The issue has received a great deal of attention in recent
times, and much has been said over how competition law can help in making the markets
work more effectively, increasing consumer welfare, promoting innovation and good
governance, ensuring that gains from deregulation do not accrue to private parties alone,
and most critically aiding the poverty eradication efforts.
In Asia for instance, competition has emerged as a major policy reform area. Most
countries in the region are either drafting or have introduced some form of competition
law, or reviewed and amended their old laws or adopted new ones in recent years. We can
quote India‘s new Competition Act, the merger notification requirements recently
introduced in China, the draft competition law and competition provisions contained in
the media legislation of Singapore, the current code on takeovers and mergers in
Malaysia, and many other examples as evidence of this trend. More importantly one
needs to look into matters of practical nature: how the law is being implemented, what are
the problems that countries are facing in the implementation process and how to better it,
to achieve the objectives which have been set out at the beginning.
Since 1984, CUTS has been involved in competition issues, graduating to a leading
research and advocacy group and a technical assistance provider to governments and
84
other stakeholders on the subject. The goal being promotion of a healthy competition
culture around the world.
Involvement of CUTS
Currently CUTS is implementing a comparative research project in five developing
countries of Asia (7Up2): Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, and Vietnam. All of them
do not have a competition regime, which throws up considerable challenges. Each one of
them is considering the adoption of a competition law, with varying intensity. This
project follows the success of a path-breaking research project covering seven developing
countries (7Up1): Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya and Zambia.
One of the goals of this project was the establishment of an international advocacy group,
International Network of Civil Society Organisations on Competition (INCSOC). It
primary membership comprises of consumer organisations, advocacy groups, research
institutions and parliamentarians. Two competition authorities are also associate
members. The current total membership is about 96 in 52 countries.
INCSOC is currently engaged in a project on developing a ―Citizens‘ Report on the State
of Competition Law in the World‖ through a purely voluntary effort of membership.
Expected to be published in January 2005, it will serve as a primer on competition laws
around the world covering nearly 100 countries. The project is being implemented by
CUTS, which currently serves as the hub of the virtual network.
85
This paper
This paper has been prepared on the basis of reports received under the INCSOC project
and is a work in progress. In this paper, we do a comparative review on the current state
of play as regards competition laws in the Asia Pacific region as well as the motives
which lead to the adoption of the law, or on its amendments or on adoption of a new law.
Focus has been put on highlighting issues pertaining to successful/ineffective
implementation of such laws and the agenda for future. The paper, nonetheless, has no
ambition to attend to each and every detail of such a big topic, especially when the task is
to cover a vast region with countries at various levels of development in a few pages.
With this thumbnail sketch, we hope to draw out some interesting features for a deeper
study in the future.
The law and the motivations
The Asia-Pacific region is one of the regions in the world with the largest diversity.
Comprising of about 45 countries, divided into five different sub-regions, it is home to a
few of the most developed countries in the world, like Japan and Australia, but it also
houses many least developed countries like the Lao People‘s Democratic Republic, Nepal
and Bangladesh. The newly industrialised countries as well as some of the rich oil-
exporting countries are also part of this region. This diversity cannot be ignored, and
indeed it reflects rather clearly, when we talk about competition law in the region.
Out of the 45 countries in the region, some 20 plus have enacted a relatively full-fledged
competition law. Countries like Bhutan, Vietnam, Nepal, and Singapore do have a draft
86
law, which is under consideration at the moment. On the other hand, countries such as
Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, and United Arab Emirates do not have any sort of legislation till
date. All developed countries in the region like Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Israel,
and some developing countries such as India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka have a reasonably
long history of a competition regime. Lebanon is beginning the process. Kuwait has
recently updated its commercial law with specific provisions on anticompetitive practices.
See Table 1-3 for some brief situation reviews on competition laws in various countries in
the region.
Table 1. Competition laws in the Asia Pacific region – A brief Situation Report
Current Status Major developments and motivations

Country
Afghanistan No competition law Other priorities will not see the
evolution of a competition law in the
near future.
Armenia Law of the Republic of Armenia on No further data.
Protection of Economic Competition,
2000.
Australia Trade Practices Act 1974 There was a major review of the
competition provisions of the Trade
Practices Act, 1974 (TPA). The
Government's response to this review
was announced on 16 April 2003, and
legislation to give effect to this
87
response is currently being drafted. The
legislation is yet to be finalised.
Australia also had a Prices
Surveillance Act legislated in 1983 as
part of the then Government's prices
and incomes policy. This Act has been
repealed recently in 2003 and a new
part has been inserted into the TPA,
which preserves the existing powers of
price surveillance. This change was
effected in view that the economic
environment has changed considerably
and transferring these powers to the
TPA is consistent with establishing a
uniform competition policy
administered by the Australian
Competition and Consumer
Commission.
Additionally, Australia is one
unique country with a National
Competition Policy, and a Council to
administer the same, which ensures that
all government decisions have to go
88
through a competition lens.
Azerbaijan  Law of the Azerbaijan Republic about No further data.
Antimonopoly Activity, Law No. 526 of
April 1993, amended Oct 1997
 Law on Natural Monopolies
 Law on Dishonest Competition, 1995
Bangladesh No competition law in force till date The Bangladesh government is
believed to be considering a
competition law for the country. A
draft bill entitled, ―Monopolies,
Restrictive and Unfair Trade Practices
(Control and Preventive) Act‖ was
prepared to this effect. However, not
much has been done in this regard.
Despite a recognised need for
one and evidence of prevalent
anticompetitive practices in the market,
the Government does not appear very
serious about the law. Policy makers
believe that since it is no longer on the
WTO agenda, they need not act on it.
This confusion is being addressed in
the CUTS 7Up2 project, which was
89
launched in Dhaka on September
22/23, 2004.
Bhutan Draft hybrid competition and consumer The Ministry of Trade and
protection law under consideration Industry (MTI) and other government
departments in Bhutan have taken some
steps to increase competition for
protecting consumer interests.
However, it is realised that one does
not need a sophisticated competition
law in a country where there is hardly
any industrial base. The country is
currently debating a legislation that
would oversee competition and
consumer protection issues in an
intertwined manner. The draft Bhutan
Consumer Protection Bill 2001
proposes an umbrella law under the
MTI with rules and regulations to
protect the interests of consumer in all
sectors of the economy. The Bill has
been approved by the Cabinet, but is
awaiting approval of the National
Assembly.
90
Brunei No competition law in force till date. While there is no specific
Darussalam legislation pertaining to all aspects of
competition, there is an act entitled:
The Monopolies Act, Cap. 73 of the
Laws of Brunei. This Act has been in
existence since 1932 and has so far not
been used or updated. Brunei
Darussalam is currently considering
how to properly implement the
regulation of competition from the
grassroots level upwards.
Cambodia No competition law in force till date. In 2002, Cambodia passed a
Law concerning Marks, Trade Names
and Unfair Competition, which mainly
deals with IPR issues and IPR-related
unfair competition. The country is due
to adopt a competition law by 2006 as
part of its WTO accession package.
The CUTS 7Up2 project is addressing
the issue.
China  China has not yet got a competition As part of the country‘s market-
law in the sense of a comprehensive legal oriented reform programme, China has
code. However, China‘s current laws and been working on a draft competition
91
regulations contain a series of anti- law since early 1990s. It is a part of the
monopoly provisions: overall strategy of the Government to
- Regulation on Anti-dumping and bring in internal reforms through
Anti-subsidy of the People‘s Republic external policy lock-in.
of China
In 1994, Chinese officials
- Law of the People‘s Republic of
announced their intention to
China for Countering Unfair
supplement the Law for Countering
Competition, 1993
Unfair Competition by promulgating an
- Price Law of the People‘s
Anti-Monopoly Law. Although revised
Republic of China 1997 and Law of
many times during the past decade, the
the People‘s Republic of China for
draft law has not yet been legislated.
Inviting and Submitting Tender 1999
There is some resistance to enacting a
- Other sectoral regulatory laws
general competition law. One view is
such as the Regulations Against
that China is still at the very early stage
Unfair Competition Acts in the Civil
of economic development and
Air Transportation Market
enterprises are generally small in size
(promulgated by the General
and thus there is no need to have an
Administration of China Order No. 47
anti-monopoly law. Besides, some are
on Feb 1996); the Interim Provisions
concerned that an anti-monopoly law
on Mergers and Divisions of Foreign-
may adversely affect the State-owned
Invested Enterprises 2001, the Interim
enterprises in terms of price setting,
Provisions on Restructuring State-
restructuring, and so on.
owned Enterprises By Utilising
Foreign Investment 2002, etc
92
China has just set up its first merger
notification/evaluation system with the
Interim Provisions on the Mergers with
and Acquisitions of Domestic Enterprises
by Foreign Investors 2003
Cyprus The Protection of Competition Law No further data, and perhaps
Control of Concentrations between Cyprus though being in the Asia
Undertakings Law 1989. Pacific region geographically, is closer
to Europe.
Fiji  Commerce Act 1998 Data awaited
 Fair Trading Decree 1992
 Consumer Credit Act 1999.
Hong Kong No competition law yet in force. At In November 1996, as part of its
present, the only competition laws similar information dissemination and advisory
to those found in other jurisdictions are function, the
the prohibitions against anti-competitive Consumer Council of Hong Kong
conduct found in the issued a report entitled 'Competition
Telecommunications Ordinance, and Policy - the Key to Hong Kong's
those in the Broadcasting Ordinance.

Future Success', which summarised a
These are administered by industry
number of competition studies the
specific regulatory licensing authorities.
Council had previously undertaken into
Section 7K of the various sectors, and outlined its vision
93
Telecommunications Ordinance, entitled for a general competition law,
―Anti-competitive practices‖, for administered by a general competition
example, provides that a licensee shall authority.
not engage in conduct which, in the

The Government issued a
opinion of the Telecommunications
publication in May 1998 known as the
Authority (TA), has the purpose or effect
Statement on Competition Policy in
of preventing or substantially restricting
response. In this Statement the
competition in a telecommunications
Government made it clear it does not
market.
consider that a general competition law
However, in its latest Trade Policy is necessary or appropriate for Hong
Review report on Hong Kong, the World Kong. Instead it opted for what it
Trade Organisation has criticised the termed a 'sector specific approach
government‘s approach of allowing the reinforced by self regulatory
TA to perform a dual role of the mechanisms and administrative
traditional regulator and enforcer of measures to be taken by appropriate
competition policy on the grounds that it Government bureaus and departments
could compromise the TA‘s impartiality. when and if the need arises'.
The Government also created a
'Competition Policy Advisory Group',
(known as COMPAG) chaired by the
Finance Secretary, which was given the
role of considering proposals put
forward by Government agencies
94
concerning competition, and
submissions from the Consumer
Council.
India Competition Act, 2002, in replacement of This Law is a completely new
the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade legislation, to replace the old MRTP
Practices Act 1969 Act 1969, in self-realisation that the old
law has outlasted its validity in the
context of the country‘s liberalisation
and deregulation process. Consumer
protection issues and mini competition
issues at the retail level were
transferred for being exclusively dealt
with under the Consumer Protection
Act 1986 (COPRA). In addition to the
Competition Act 2002 and COPRA,
various regulatory bodies have been
dealing with competition concerns in
different sectors.
Interestingly, competition law in
India is not under the trade and
industries ministry, but under a
ministry which deals with corporate
issues exclusively. When the new law
95
was being drafted, the trade ministry
had raised objections, for they believed
that this will send wrong signals to the
world that India is ready for a WTO
agreement on competition!
Indonesia Law No. 5 Year 1999 concerning Ban on In Indonesia, since the country
Monopolistic Practices and Unfair started to undertake various
Business Competition (effective from 5 liberalisation and deregulation
March 2000) measures, competition has been widely
accepted as a major driver for
economic development. Indonesia‘s
opening and integration process,
including its participation in WTO,
APEC, AFTA (ASEAN Free Trade
Agreement) has also given an impetus
to the issue.
Demands for a competition law
in Indonesia first emerged from the
academic circles in the early 1990s. At
that time, economists explained that
Indonesia needed a competition law to
ensure that business competition would
be fair. In 1995, academic calls for a
96
competition law were supported by a
number of parliamentarians. One of the
parties represented in parliament, the
Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI),
submitted a draft Competition Law.
However, the bill met with poor
response for a number of reasons.
After Indonesia was devastated
by the Asian financial crisis in 1997,
the public sensed an increased urgency
for competition law to regulate
business practices such as collusion,
nepotism, and increasingly blatant lack
of transparency in government
decisions. In May 1997, President
Suharto responded positively to
demands for a Competition Law
through a presidential announcement
that monopolistic practices would be
eliminated. Because of the perception
that the government was dragging its
feed on the law, the public lobbied
Parliament to take their own initiative
97
in drafting the law. On April 12, 1998,
a clear direction emerged on moving
forward with the Competition Law. In
its Third Letter of Intent named
Supplementary Memorandum of
Economic and Financial Policies, the
Government of Indonesia agreed that it
would submit a draft Competition Law
to Parliament by December 31, 1998.
As was planned, the
Government submitted the draft
Competition law to Parliament at the
end of 1998. In its draft, the
Government emphasized the
dismantling of monopolies, facilitation
of fair-trading, and protection for
small-scale enterprises. After prolonged
deliberations involving many different
groups in society, the draft law was
finalised on February 15, 1999. This
shows that the law represents a political
compromise influenced by events at the
time. On March 5, 1999, the law was
98
promulgated by the President and
declared effective one year after
signing by the president, or one year
after its promulgation.
Iran No competition law yet in force.
Iraq No competition law yet in force.
Israel Restrictive Trade Practices Law, 5748- Not being dealt with here.
1988
Japan Act Concerning Prohibition Of Private Following the 2nd world war,
Monopolisation And Maintenance of Fair under US pressure, Japan enacted the
Trade 1947, more widely known as the competition law. Unfortunately, the
1947 Anti-Monopoly Act (AMA). enforcement of its law, particularly
prior to the 1980s, has been heavily
criticised for having been overly slack.
A primary reason for this is due to
Japan‘s pursuit of industrial policy,
which played a crucial role in Japan‘s
economic miracle during the post-war
period. Aimed at enhancing the
competitiveness of Japanese firms in
the international market and catching
up with more advanced economies, the
99
Japanese government adopted various
measures that contradicted the principle
of fair competition, which has affected
both the contents of the AMA, as well
as its enforcement.
Substantial changes, however,
have been undergoing in the Japanese
antitrust system since early 1990s, with
the AMA being further strengthened
with more improved provisions and
implementation guidelines, and the
power of the Japanese Fair Trade
Commission (JFTC) has been greatly
enhanced. The changes were reportedly
driven by two main factors: (1) the
trade disputes between Japan and the
US and (2) the internal drive for
reforming economic structures by
means of deregulation and promotion
of competition in domestic markets.
Jordan  Trade Secrets and Unfair Competition Jordan has faced several
Law, Law No. 15 for the year 2000, impediments in developing a
Official Gazette No.4423 dated 2.4.2000 competition law and authority – In
 Law of Unethical Competition and 1996 and 1998 attempts were made to
100
Commercial Secrecy, 2000 issue an antitrust and competition law
but failed because of reasons such as
complicated design of the institutional
side; vague investigation procedures
and prosecution; improper fine system.
In 2002, a working programme
was agreed upon between Jordanian
authorities and EJADA (the Euro-
Jordanian action for the development of
enterprise) to redraft the competition
law. Work on this commenced in
February 2002. Idea of enacting
national competition legislation was
welcomed but certain concerns were
raised on the legislation, institutional &
enforcement side. Recommendations
were made to avoid abuse of the law or
excess administrative discretion. At last
in August 2002 the provisional
competition law No. 49 was issued,
which is based on free determination of
prices in accordance with market
mechanisms and principles of free
101
competition.
Korea  Price Stabilisation Act (1973) In Korea, when the government tried
 Price Stability and Fair Trade Act to introduce a competition law in the
(Enacted in 1975, took effect on Mar. 15, 1970s, many doubted the need for one.
1976) There were many who believed that
Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act Korea needed national champions to
(MRFTA: enacted on Dec. 31, 1980, took develop its relatively small market by
effect on April 1, 1981). The MRFTA competing in overseas market.
underwent 7 revisions in 1986, 1990, Consequently, the establishment of
1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001 and competition law had been delayed. The
2002. delay in adoption of competition law in
part was the reason for high

 Fair Subcontract Transactions Act
concentration in the Korean market
1984 and the Adhesion Contract
(chaebols). The ill effects of market
Regulations Act 1986 (protecting
distortion became more profound.
subcontractors and consumers at the
competition policy level) With the outbreak of the Asian
 Fair Labelling and Advertising Act financial crisis in late 1997, and the
(FLAA) 1999 business scandals exposed in the
 Omnibus Cartel Repeal Act (the Act economy, a broad national consensus
on Regulating Undue Concerted was reached that the economy should
Activities Exempt from the Application be essentially driven by principles of
of the Monopoly Regulation and Fair market competition. In this climate, the
Trade Act) 1999 (repealing or improving Korean government took bold steps to
102
cartels permitted under individual eliminate the old structural
statutes) inefficiencies of the Korean economy
 Door-to-Door Sales, etc. Act and and strong enforcement of the
Instalment Transaction Act, transferred competition law was considered as one
from the Ministry of Commerce, Industry of the most important means of
and Energy to being under the authority restructuring the Korean economy on
of the Korean Fair Trade Commission the foundation of a market economy.
(KFTC) in 1999 so that the latter has the For the past five years after the
power to protect consumers in special financial crisis, regulatory reforms
types of transactions. driven by strong advocacy role of
 Consumer Protection in Electronic Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC)
Commerce, etc. Act 2002 has contributed to the creation of a
 Fair Franchise Transactions Act 2002 more favourable environment for
businesses and foreign direct
investment.
Incidentally, the KFTC
chairman is a member of the
government cabinet, thus reflecting the
seriousness with which Korea looks at
competition issues. The only other
country with such a high profile is
perhaps Russia.
Kazakhstan  The Law of the Republic of No further data
103
Kazakhstan "On Natural Monopolies", 9
July 1998 No. 272-1 (Amended in 2001)
 The Law on "Competition and
Restriction of Monopoly Activity" 19
January 2001 No. 144-II
 The Law on "Unfair Competition" 9
June 1998 No. 232-1 (Amended in 2000)
Kyrgyzstan  Rule on the National Commission on No further data
security and development of competition
at the President of the Republic of
Kyrgyzstan 1998
 Law of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan on
anti-dumping 1998
 Law of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan on
safety measures 1998
Kuwait No competition law
Lao PDR Fair Trade Competition Decree (effective The legislation was passed
from August 2004) mostly due to the technical assistance
and external advocacy from the
UNCTAD. However, a preliminary
review of the Decree in the overall
socio-economic context of the country
104
showed that the legislation is at a very
initial level, and public awareness as
well as technical capacity on the issue
is yet to be built. The CUTS 7Up2
project is addressing these problems.
Lebanon Provisions relating to unfair competition No further data
are contained in the French High
Commissioner‘s Order No.2385 of 1924,
"Laws & Systems of the Commercial and
Industrial Property in Lebanon"
(amended in 1946, 1960 and 1983). The
Penal Code is also relevant for acts of
Unfair Competition.
Promulgation Decrees
 Promulgating Decree No. 31 of the
year 1967 on anti-dumping policy
 Promulgating Decree No. 32 for the
year 1967 on anti-monopoly and high
prices
 Promulgating Decree No. 54 for the
year 1983 on anti-fraud
Laws
105
 Law No. 31 for the year 1967
authorizing the Government to enact
promulgating decrees to combat high
prices and monopoly
Macao No competition law The Government of Macao has
already established general provisions
that set out the basic elements of a
competition policy, within its 1999
Commercial Code, under Title X
'Discipline of Competition Among
Entrepreneurs'. Article 153 of the Code
establishes a general principle that
competition should be carried out in a
form that does not damage the interests
of the economy of the Territory, and
under the limits established in the law.
A number of succeeding articles in the
Code provide some indication as to the
forms of conduct that would be
detrimental to competition, and are
therefore to be prohibited.
Malaysia Malaysia does not have a specific law on In 1993, the Ministry of
Competition, however, currently there Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs
106
exist about 30 laws which regulate certain (MDTCA) announced its intention to
activities of enterprises and which protect draft a ―Fair Trade Practices Bill‖.
consumer interests. Under these laws a This did not materialise. Indeed, in the
consumer or trader may seek redress Eighth Malaysia Plan 2001-2005
through the appropriate Ministry, public (8MP), the most recent of the country‘s
agency or via the Civil Courts. These plan documents, there is an explicit
laws include the Companies Act 1965, statement accepting the need to
the Control of Supplies Act 1961, the encourage competition. The Malaysian
Trade Descriptions Act 1972, the Food government has reiterated its support
Act 1983, the Hire Purchase Act 1967, for a domestic competition policy and
the Weights and measures Act 1972, the law in a statement issued subsequent to
Direct Sales Act 1993, etc. A Consumer the National Workshop on Competition
Protection Bill is also due to be tabled in Policy and Law, organised by the
Parliament very soon. MDTCA and UNCTAD in 2000.
The slow progress as regards a
competition law is due to several
concerns. One of the considerations is
to ensure that the distributive
considerations voiced in the New
Economic Policy (the country‘s leading
reforms programme initiated in early
1970s) are achieved. The government
also wishes to pursue measures that
107
will promote the growth of domestic
firms. Finally, the government wants
to protect domestic firms from the
competition that will emanate from
foreign firms. In sum, the government
hopes to achieve a development path
that is in line with national aspirations
rather than one that is based on the
dictates of efficiency and fair trade.
Discussions at the WTO have also been
a dampener to these efforts.
Moldova  Law Concerning Restriction of No further data
Monopolistic Activities and Development
of Competition 1992
 Law on antidumping, compensatory
and protection measures 2000
 Law on Protection of Competition
2000
Mongolia  Law on Prohibiting Unfair No further data.
Competition, 1994
 Consumer Protection Law 1991
Myanmar No competition law in force till date Though the Myanmar
government recognised the role of a
108
competition law as an important
regulatory instrument for economic
development, such a law is not on the
anvil of policy-makers in the country.
They quote the slow progress of the
transition process, low level of
education, asymmetric information,
under-developed private sector, skewed
distribution of wealth, etc as the main
reasons for not considering a
competition law in the immediate
future. The government intends to
introduce competition policy and law in
a staggered manner, however, only
after building up the domestic
industrial capacity, to avoid backfiring.
Nepal  The Nepal Constitution included Statement by local civil society
directive principles aims at reducing organisations: ―If it had not been for
economic concentration (Article 25.2) the commitment under the WTO
 Black Marketing and Certain Other accession, competition policy and law
Offences might never have seen the light of the
(Prevention and Control) Act day‖.
 Consumer Protection Act, 1997
109
- guarantees consumers‘ rights to The CUTS 7Up2 project is
choose (Section 6.1.C) addressing the progress.
- prohibits collusion, fixing of
quotas, hoarding and creation of
artificial scarcity (Section 7)
- controls monopoly and unfair
trade practices (Section 8.1.B).
 Draft competition law under
consideration
New  Commerce Act 1986 (Amended in The relationship with Australia
Zealand 2001) is New Zealand‘s most significant
 Telecommunications Act 2001 bilateral link, which has been
Telecommunications Amendment Act remarkably affecting the development
2001 direction of New Zealand competition
law. This is underpinned by

 Electricity Industry Reform Act 1998
geographical proximity, historical
 Electricity Industry Reform
linkages, shared outlook, similar social
Amendment Act 2001
structures and an extensive overlap in
 Fair Trading Act 1986 and various
economic and security interests. Key
amendments
agreements in place include:
 The Australia- New Zealand
Closer Economic Relations
110
Agreement (ANZCERTA)
 The Trans-Tasman Mutual
Recognition Agreement
(TTMRA)
 The Memorandum of
Understanding on
Harmonisation of Business Law
(in which competition law is
clearly mentioned)
Indeed, the latest amendment of the
Commerce Act 1986 in 2001 has
brought the law to be aligned with
Australia‘s.
Oman Unfair Competition Law No data
Pakistan Monopolies and Restrictive Trade In view of the constraints
Practices Ordinance (1971). imposed by the new economic
environment, which has totally changed
since the MRTPO was first enforced in
1971, and thus inadequacies of the
Ordinance to take care of the market
situation, the Monopoly Control
Authority of Pakistan drafted a new law
in 2002. Later, it invited comments of
111
consumer groups and other
stakeholders in order to amend the
MRTPO. The government, however,
has been reluctant to accept such
suggestions. It is for numerous reasons
including a general tendency in the
Government to resist the emergence of
autonomous bodies like MCA and the
perception that an effective competition
law may discourage investment in the
country.
Papua New Independent Consumer & Competition Whilst attempts have been made
Guinea Act 2002 to formulate a consumer protection
policy for Papua New Guinea (PNG)
since 1977 with the PNG Law Reform
Commission ‘s Report on Fairness of
Transactions and subsequently the
LRC ‘s Working Paper No.17 on
Consumer Protection, until the early
1990s, no attempts were made to
formulate a competition law. It is
speculatively observed that this may
have been due to the historical fact that
112
PNG had just emerged as a nation since
1975 and there was very little private
sector investment in the economy. As a
result, the government through its
parastatals became the major investor
usually as public sector monopolies.
These parastatals were also
legislatively vested with regulatory
powers. These conditions were
therefore not conducive to encouraging
competition. The end result was that
competition law was placed well and
truly on the back burner.
It was only in the early 1990s when the
PNG Government rode on the
international wave of corporatisation
and privatisation that issues pertaining
to competition law began to be
considered. In fact when the PNG
Government adopted an official
corporatisation and privatisation policy,
it became apparent that it also had to
adopt a competition law so that the
113
objectives of its corporatisation and
privatisation programmes were not lost.
Since the ultimate objective of the
corporatisation and privatisation policy
was to achieve allocative and
productive efficiency and generate
economic growth by removing all
barriers to entry into a market and
therefore encourage competition, it was
vitally important that an appropriate
competition law and regime be set in
place.
In 2002, the PNG Parliament
successfully passed the Independent
Consumer and Protection Bill 2002.
The passage of the Bill saw the
abolishment of the Consumer Affairs
Council Act 1993 and amendments to
the Prices Regulation Act.
Philippines There is no comprehensive competition There is general agreement in
law or specific institution in the the Philippines that the existing laws
Philippines to enforce the law. have been inadequate in promoting a
strong competitive market. However,

 Section 19 of Article XII of the 1987
114
Constitution prohibits monopolies and there has been no clamour for the
combinations in restraint or trade immediate enactment of a
 Republic Act 3247 (An Act to comprehensive competition law. Two
Prohibit Monopolies and Combinations in major bills on competition are pending
Restraint of Trade) (1961) as amended, in Congress but they are not considered
read along with the Revised Penal Code, high priority, due to a multitude of
as amended by Republic Act. No. 1956, reasons, such as a business culture of
prohibit unfair trade practices, believing in the necessity of
monopolies and combinations in restraint reciprocity, corruption and cronyism,
of trade. lack of political will. (Certain
 Price Act 1992 influential members of Congress are
 Consumer Act 1992 themselves businessmen or majority
stockholders of dominant firms who are
threatened by the enactment of a
comprehensive competition policy/law.
They will resist at all cost the passage
of a competition bill), lack of
understanding and education on the
rationale for competition law on the
part of concerned stakeholders, e.g.,
consumers, business community, and
government officials.
Russian Law on Competition and Limitation of Not being discussed here, as
115
Federation Monopolistic Activities 1991 Russia is mainly a part of Europe.
Saudi No competition law
Arabia
Singapore Draft law in consultation process Until recently, Singapore has
used sector-specific legislation to
regulate players in the market and
promote competition. Such legislation
exists in the telecommunication, gas
and electricity industries. Yet as
Singapore's economy develops, this
approach is no longer deemed
sufficient. "As we enter our next phase
of economic development, a sectoral
approach has become inadequate," says
a representative of the Ministry of
Trade and Industry of Singapore. The
Draft law is now undergoing its second
round of consultation.
The US-Singapore FTA was one
of the reasons for this change of heart.
Jordan too is a similar case.
Sri Lanka - Fair Trading Commission Act No. 1 of While the Fair Trading
116
1987 Commission Act (FTCA) had been
considered a weak legislation, both in

- Fair Trading Commission Act No. 57 of
terms of textual contents and
1993
enforcement reality, the CAAA was
- Consumer Protection Act 1979
thus expected to provide a way out for
- Control of Prices Act Sri Lanka, providing a ―corrective
measure after tremendous suffering that

All these laws have recently been
consumers went through recently due
repealed by the Consumer Affairs
to monopolies‖. However, the new law
Authority Act (CAAA) introduced in
had been diluted even before it was
2003
passed due to business lobbies and fear
of scaring away foreign investment.
The Authority set up under the law
only has ex-post power. It does not
have independent budget (but is subject
to government budget) and is under the
Minister of Commerce and Consumer
Affairs. The same problems (budget
availability and autonomy) as with the
Fair Trading Commission are repeated.
Syrian Arab  No specific competition law. Studies are underway with the
Republic Everything relating to monopoly, help of the European Commission to
consumer protection rights, etc is implement new regulations and special
117
governed by the General Trade Law. laws pertaining to this subject.
 Syrian Penal Code, Articles 671-674
cover "Unlawful Speculations", and
Article 700 covers "Fraudulent
Competition"
Taiwan Fair Trade Law 1991 The law was enacted on
February 4, 1991 and went into effect
on the same date one year later. The
aim of the law is to maintain trading
order, protect consumer interests,
ensure fair competition, promote
economic stability and prosperity, and
provide fair and reasonable competition
rules. The Fair Trade Commission
(FTC) was established on January 27
1992 to enforce the Law.
The first major amendment of
the law in February 1999, followed by
the second and third amendments in
April 2000 and February 2002,
respectively. These changes were
aimed at bringing the Fair Trade Law
in line with the needs of today's
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economy and enhancing the fairness
and transparency of the FTC' s
enforcement work.
Tajikistan  Law on Competition and Restriction No further data
to Monopoly Activities in Goods Market
2000
 Law on Natural Monopolies 1997
Thailand Trade Competition Act, 1999, in The ―Price Fixing and Anti-
replacement of the Price Control and monopoly Act‖, enacted in 1979, is
Anti-Monopoly Act B.E. 2522 (AD 1979) considered to be Thailand‘s first legal
system to control competition.
Consisting of two parts—price controls
and the prohibition of monopolies—
this act was intended to control prices
while preventing dominant companies
from profiting unfairly from price
controls. However, it was paradoxical
to attempt to curb the ill effects of price
controls by a law that regulated
competition without regulating price
controls directly. In fact, during the 20
years in which the law was in effect,
the government applied it to only a few
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cartels.
In 1991, the government,
perceiving the need to safeguard
competition in a more serious manner
in the changing context of the global
and domestic economies, set up a
Commission to reform antitrust law in
Thailand. The first task was to examine
the Price-fixing and Anti-monopoly
Act of 1979 and whether it was
appropriate to apply to drastic
economic changes of the country. It
was found that the Price-fixing and
Anti-monopoly Act of 1979 was unable
to play a proper role to preserve the
competitive process in the market. The
anti-monopoly measures under the Act
have been applied only once since its
enactment. All of anti-monopoly
provisions have proven to be
unenforceable and just a dead letter.
Following the report of the
Commission, the government decided
to have a new competition law. The
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Commission was entrusted to draft the
law, which was completed and first
introduced to the parliament in 1992,
subsequently passed in 1999.
The 1997 Asian financial crisis
also had a significant effect in
prompting the immediate passage of
the new law in Thailand (due to the
urgent need to restructure and recover
the economy). However, recent bad
enforcement experiences showed that
even this new law has failed to meet the
original expectations.
Turkey Act on Protection of Competition 1994 Like Russia, and more due to its
own desire to become a member of the
European Union, Turkey too considers
itself part of Europe, so is not being
dealt with here.
United Arab No competition law
Emirates
Uzbekistan  Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan  The new Draft Law "On
On Competition and Restriction of Competition" that will substitute the
Monopolistic Activity in the Commodity current Law "On Competition and
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Markets Restriction of Monopolistic Activity in
 Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan the Commodity Markets" is in the
On Natural Monopolies process of development and approval
 Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan
On Advertising
 Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan
On Protection of Consumer's Right
 Regulation of Mergers and
Acquisitions
Viet Nam Draft Law under consideration Since the launch of the Doi Moi
Policy in 1986, Vietnam has been
pursuing the introduction of a market-
oriented economy. In the 1990s, these
efforts shifted to full-scale reforms,
such as reforming state-run enterprises,
accepting private enterprises, and
easing government regulations, which
led the market to the centre of
economic activities. At the same time,
numerous cases of abuse are taking
place increasingly. This drew the
government‘s attention to the
importance of ensuring fairness, and in
the late 1990s, the government began
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emphasising the need to establish laws
to regulate competition.
The CUTS 7Up2 project and
another project by UNCTAD is
addressing the issues to achieve quick
progress.
As can be seen, a majority of countries in the region are either in the process of drafting a
competition law, or have recently promulgated one. Even countries with established
competition laws and a long history of implementing such a law are also reviewing and
reforming/amending their law; some have even scrapped the old law and enacted new one
with drastically fresh approach. These include Australia, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, and
Uzbekistan, etc. The Sri Lankan case is indeed a little different, and Pakistan too is
hesitating to draft a new law, both under the fear of scaring foreign investors. In the
overall, the currents of competition regimes in the region are moving in a forward
direction, though at varying pace and vigour. Motivations, however, vary.
Notably, the changes have happened in the context that these countries are undertaking
rigorous market-based reforms or comprehensive restructuring programmes. The cases of
Vietnam, Lao PDR, China, Cambodia all pointing in this direction. In the case of both
China and Vietnam, which are under a Communist regime, the government has clearly
stated that they need an external policy lock-in to bring in domestic reforms.
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In Lao PDR, for example, under the centrally planned economic mechanism,
“competition” in the sense of “business rivalry” used to be considered an alien
concept. The economy was dominated [and is still, though to a lesser degree] by
State-owned enterprises, which enjoyed administrative monopolies in their
exclusive sectors, or geographical territories. The system of subsidy and equal
income distribution regardless individual performance deprived economic agents
of incentives for making innovations, improving efficiency and/or the thirst for a
better position in the market. Enterprises try no further than to meet the numerical
target quotas. Salaries of workers in SOEs were paid not in cash but in the form of
„coupons‟, which could be used later at State-owned department stores to
exchange for food and other consumer goods. It is only after the New Economic
Mechanism was introduced that competition in the market got the breathing space
to thrust and thrive, and that competition legislation can be promulgated.
The liberalisation and opening up of markets brought about far-reaching changes,
including, inter alia, upward competitive pressures on domestic players, complicated
market structures, relations and behaviours; making it an imperative for countries to have
a competition law as an economic governance instrument; if the competitive process, the
legitimate interests of their producers and consumers are to be protected. The absence of a
competition law, or the existence of an out-dated law can no longer be tolerated in such
context (see the case of Indonesia, China, Thailand, India). Even countries with a
different regulatory approach are recognising that they ought to change if they do not
wish to be left behind (as in the case of Singapore). Countries like Japan, Korea, where
competition law used to be subdued to more prioritised industrial development needs,
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now recognise that a highly concentrated market situation, dominated by few champions
is no longer a desirable economic structure, and thus have been pro-actively reforming
their competition law and its enforcement to boost domestic rivalry, in their drive for
economic development.
In some cases, the introduction/revision of a [new] competition law has been kind-of a
shock therapy. Besides countries where adoption of the law has been induced by WTO
membership like Nepal, Cambodia; there are also cases where the need for such a law
reached a height of urgency after a period of deep crisis or economic recession. After
suffering from the 1997 Asian financial crisis, both Thailand and Indonesia enacted
comprehensive laws regulating competition in 1999, while Korea too reconsidered their
approach with respect to the law. Behind this movement was the recognition that the lack
of a competitive environment, due to the dominance of state-run enterprises and
conglomerates, had helped to trigger the Asian crisis and that modern competition laws
would be one means of helping the affected nations to overcome their economic plight.
Albeit, business lobbies and other systemic problems in Thailand and Indonesia have
prevented the effective implementation of the law. On the other hand, Korea has taken its
renewed approach more seriously and has started implementing its law more effectively
than before.
The picture, nonetheless, is not completely rosy. Policy inertia, misunderstandings, vested
interests, or even exorbitantly low level of economic development and awareness have
been reported as the main hindrances against the adoption of competition legislations in
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the region (see the case of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, the Philippines). On the other
hand, strong advocacy has been witnessed from the civil society and the general public, as
in the case of Nepal, Indonesia and India. This was helped also by a) the discussions at
the WTO, and b) active efforts of various bodies including the UNCTAD, World Bank,
DFID and the OECD; and technical assistance programmes by competition agencies of
more advanced economies.
Implementation of the law: where do we stand?
Once the law has been enacted and so on, a major deficiency in the region is with regard
to its implementation. Problems typically arise out of either (i) the design of the
competition laws, or in other words, the existing statues; or (ii) institutional drawbacks of
the system enforcing the law, such as organisational structure, autonomy of the
competition authorities, availability of budget and qualified staff, etc 1.
The case of the Price Control and Anti-Monopoly Act 1979 in Thailand represents one
prominent example how implementation is crippled because of the bad design of the law
itself.
In 1979, Thailand implemented the first competition law: the Price-Fixing and
Anti-monopoly Act which embodied two policies in the same body of law: price
control measures and anti-monopoly measures. Those measures were designed to
have correlated enforcement. In particular, to implement the anti-monopoly
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provisions, it is necessary to enforce the provisions of price-fixing first (to notify
any product to be under control) and such provisions shall be applied where the
responsible authority has primarily declared any business relating to product
under control which was being conducted in the form of a monopoly or restrictive
practices to be a “controlled business”. This means that when any business has
been declared to be under control, all players in the sector must comply with the
anti-monopoly provisions, while players in other sectors, which have not been
declared to be subjected to control, shall not be obliged to conform to the anti-
monopoly provisions. By this approach, the anti-monopoly provisions, which
outlawed every anti competitive conduct and a monopoly as illegal per se, shall
not be applied generally and independently. This brought about tremendous
difficulties in controlling monopolistic and anti competitive conduct and lessened
the substantial impact of law on business practices, which were regarded as
objectionable by the law since the application of the prohibitory provisions
depended solely upon the initiative of responsible authority.
Sadly enough, this not very pleasant lesson traverse into the new Trade Competition Act
1999 of Thailand as well. The law leaves broad discretionary power to the administrative
body. With such broad power, the administration and enforcement of the law can be
arbitrary and discriminatory, in particular when there are no implementing rules or
guidelines. To begin with, the law leaves the key implementation rules on abuse of
dominance and mergers and acquisitions entirely in the hands of the Commission and the
Government. Moreover, the law contains several vague terms that create wide
discretionary powers for the administration. For example, section 25 stipulates: "A
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business operator having market domination shall not act in any of the following
manners:
1. unreasonably fixing or maintain purchasing or selling prices of goods or
services;
2. unreasonably fixing compulsory conditions, directly or indirectly,
requiring other business operators who are his customers to restrict services,
production, purchase or distribution of goods, or restrict opportunities in
purchasing or selling goods, receiving or providing services or securing credits
from other business operators;
3. suspending, reducing or restricting services, production, purchase,
distribution, deliveries or importation without justifiable reasons, destroying or
causing damage to goods in order to reduce the quality to that lower than the
market demand;
4. intervening in the operation of business of other persons without justifiable
reasons.
Indeed, words like "unreasonably" and "without justifiable reasons" provide a basis for
the rule of reason approach in assessing abuse of dominance practices. While there is
nothing wrong with administrative discretion, the absence of implementation guidelines
that expand on these vague terms makes law enforcement uncertain and subjective.
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Similarly, section 26 that deals with mergers and acquisitions is also vague. As can be
seen from annex 3, there is no mention of the types of defence that may be admissible for
mergers, be it an "efficiency defence" or a "failing firm defence".
Flawed design of the law has also been the problem that India experienced with its former
competition law, the 1969 Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act. For instance,
in 1994, Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL), the Indian subsidiary of Unilever, acquired its
main local rival, Tata Oil Mills Company (TOMCO), to assume a dominant position in
the toilet soap (75 percent) and detergent (35 percent) market segments 2. The proposed
merger was challenged by the HLL Employees‘ Union and consumer groups such as
CUTS and VOICE on various grounds, including that the merger would result in a large
share of the market being controlled by a transnational company, and that consumers'
interests might be adversely affected. However, the petition did not succeed since the
1991 amendment of the MRTP Act 1969 had unfortunately removed the need for
approval of mergers, acquisitions and takeovers involving ―large‖ and/or ―dominant‖
firms3.
The 1969 MRTP Act of India also did not properly cover one critical issue, that of extra-
territorial jurisdiction, which led to an enforcement failure in 2002 over a cartel case
involving the American Natural Soda Ash Corporation (ANSAC) brought by domestic
soda ash producers in India. The Supreme Court of India overturned an interim order by
the MRTP Commission of India, the then competition authority of the country under the
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1969 Act, holding that the wording of the MRTP Act did not give it any extra-territorial
jurisdiction. The Commission could therefore not take action against foreign cartels or the
pricing of exports to India, nor could it restrict imports. Action could be taken only if an
anti-competitive agreement involving an Indian party could be proved, and that too only
after the goods had been imported into India.
The 2002 Competition Act has taken care to redress these two problems, by firstly
incorporating a provision on the extra-territorial jurisdiction of the law, and secondly by
incorporating the provision of review of mergers and acquisitions with financial
thresholds.
On the other hand, it should not be presumed that a sophisticated competition law would
always do good for countries. Quite the opposite, the law should be realistic and
implementable. Introducing a law that cannot be properly implemented is not only futile
but may be counterproductive as well. A good practice that should be quoted is the case
of Bhutan. The government recognised that, being a small economy with limited
industrial base, Bhutan does not require an advanced competition legislation to regulate
the domestic market, but rather a simple hybrid approach between competition and
consumer protection issues, as most of the anti-competitive behaviour of market players
happens at a small scale and at retail level.
Countries implementing competition laws also need to build their own enforcement
agencies with properly trained employees and adequate resources to enforce the [new]
130
statute in a serious manner. It is also essential that it be politically independent, and
operate transparently to avoid charges of corruption. These institutional issues pertaining
to enforcement of the law, however, have always been a headache, which has proved to
be difficult to resolve for many Asia-Pacific countries, particularly the developing ones.
In many a case, the structure, autonomy and other organisational matters of the
competition authorities in these countries like staffing, budgets etc have negated the
quality of implementation of the law.
The autonomy of the competition authority, for example, plays a vital role as to whether
the law will be administered properly, and not subject to political intervention, lobbying
or vested interests. Singapore's yet-to-be-launched competition regime is already facing a
barrage of criticism, since it is to be situated under the Ministry for Trade and Industry
(MTI), which is perceived as an impediment for its independence. This is because some
of the Ministry's boards have stakes in government-linked companies that compete in the
Singaporean market - many civil servants are even company advisors or directors, which
may give rise to conflicts of interest, critics say. The Thai competition law is also quite
ineffective because it is directly under the control of the trade minister. A similar situation
also exists in the case of the 2003 Consumer Affairs Authority Act of Sri Lanka.
The same conundrum is facing Vietnam‘s Draft Competition Law. The State
Administration on Competition is proposed to be positioned in the Ministry of Trade
(MOT), in view of the fact that Vietnam is undergoing administrative system reform (thus
the creation of a new ministerial level body, as it is the case, would not be cost-effective
and not recommended). Besides, the MOT is also the only governmental agency, which
131
has some expertise to address competition issues, a completely new field in Vietnam.
This proposal, however, has met with the same criticisms as in the case of Singapore.
In Pakistan, though the Monopoly Control Authority (MCA) - the apex body for
administering the competition law in the country – is a de jure autonomous body, it is
highly prone to government interference. This has adversely affected the implementation
quality of the law.
In October 1998, the cement manufacturers in Pakistan increased the price steeply
by Rs.100 per bag from Rs.150 per bag. Taking a notice of this situation, the MCA
initiated a special enquiry into the causes of the price increase. The MCA was
informed by the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) that it
was due to high taxation regime and increase in the cost of inputs. However, the
MCA enquiry found that there was no increase in the costs of inputs, except a
marginal increase in electricity tariffs, whereas the level of taxation had actually
been reduced. The enquiry established that the price was increased to reap undue
profit, under a tacit agreement among the manufacturers to operate as a cartel.
The Authority passed orders, inter alia, to break the cartel and revert to the price
level, which preceded the price increase. It imposed a fine of Rs.100,000 on each
individual unit, and in case of continued non-compliance, another Rs.10,000 per
day. However, the cement manufactures refused to lower the prices and
challenged the order of the Authority in the High Court and obtained stay orders.
The controversy lingered on and dragged in the Ministry of Commerce to
intervene. After negotiations, the excise duty was lowered. The price for a 50 kg
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bag was reduced only by Rs.8. This case is an example where powerful business
groups were able to bypass the competition authority and political intervention
helped to disable enforcement of the law.
The proper enforcement of competition laws requires knowledge of both law and
economics. Thus, both lawyers and economists should be employed by the enforcement
agency. They will need adequate staff to assist them with their responsibilities.
Investigation of competition issues tend to be fact-intensive, and the staff will need to be
large enough to gather and assess these facts. The employees should be well paid to
reduce problems with corruption. In India, despite being a country with fairly long
tradition of maintaining a competition regime, the law was made ineffective by manning
the body charged with enforcement with inadequately qualified or experienced staff who
were also too few in number.
The amount of resources made available for enforcing the competition law is also a key
issue. It is quite possible to have everything else in place, but have a weak competition
law because of inadequate enforcement resources. The amount of resources needed will
depend on the size of the economy and the amount of anticompetitive activity. For
example, if the economy has a number of long-established cartels, a strong initial
enforcement effort may be required to unseat them.
To quote the sad case of Sri Lanka, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) resource base
accounts for only around 0.0028% of total government budget, while staff salaries are
133
typically lower than the average level in the public sector. Until the year 2000, there was
no legal officer and until 1999 no senior economist in the FTC staff. This extremely
constrained staffing and budgetary condition of the authority has unavoidably resulted in
bad enforcement records: from 1996-2000 the FTC investigated only 2 mergers and 23
anticompetitive practices; several ―cases‖ were given ―blind eye treatment‖ as the
authority did not have resources and technical capacity to go further.
In case of Taiwan, anecdotal evidence suggests that some judges are reluctant to decide
cases based on the Fair Trade Act, due to lack of familiarity (or expertise) with the
methods of determining what constitutes a ‗relevant market‘ for various sectors.
Therefore it is important to establish a process of educating judges so that they can be fair
and sufficiently qualified, thus efficient, in administering justice. In South Africa, the
judges of the apex court sit on a permanent bench to decide appeals on competition
issues, and they undergo a vigorous training and exposure programme.
Summary and conclusion
Looking back, the situation with respect to competition law legislation and
implementation in Asia Pacific countries is still far from being a rosy picture. However,
one has to accept the fact that this is not a utopian world and good endings always require
dedication, hard ‗labour‘, time and efforts. The recent years have seen competition laws
spreading and improving in the region and we should take such progress as a good signal
for the way forward. Implementation remains problematic, but it is not a ‗monopoly‘ of
134
less advanced countries, if we look at the no-less-unpleasant experiences of countries and
regions like the United States and the European Union.
On the optimistic side, one should appreciate the fact more and more countries in the
region have come to recognise the benefits and urgency of having an effective
competition law to supplement, it may not be a panacea for their development process.
More so, serious thinking has been put into improving the popularity, shape and
performance of such a law, not just at the domestic level, but at bilateral and regional
level as well. Good examples are the APEC Training Program on Competition Policy; the
ASEAN-JAPAN Comprehensive Cooperation Economic Partnership with a focus on
competition policy and law; UNCTAD‘s TrainForTrade programme; and intra/inter-
regional comparative studies and integrated capacity building programmes like the
ASEAN Competition Law Project by the Graduate School of International Development,
Nagoya University, Japan; and the 7Up projects by the Consumer Unity & Trust Society,
India.
Albeit, business lobbies and other systemic problems in Thailand and Indonesia have
prevent the effective implementation of the law. On the other hand, Korea has taken its
renewed approach more seriously and has started implementing its law more effectively
than before.
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Important Features of the C.P. Act
This may be summed up as under:
- The Act applies to all goods and services unless specifically
exempted by the Central Government.
- It covers all the sectors – private, public and cooperative.
- The provisions of the Act are compensatory in nature.
- It provides adjudicatory authorities, which are simple, speedy
and less expensive.
- It also provides for Consumer Protection Councils at the
National, State and District levels.
The provisions of this Act are in addition to and not in derogation of the provisions of any
other law for the time being in force.
Consumer Rights under the Act
The Act enshrines the following rights:
� which are hazardous to life
and property;
� ut the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and
price of goods so as to protect the consumer against unfair trade practices;
� variety of goods at competitive
prices;
� or unscrupulous exploitation
of consumer; and
136
�
The Act provides for the establishment of the Consumer Protection Councils at the
National, State and District levels. The objectives of these councils are to help the
respective governments in adopting and reviewing policies for promoting and protecting
the rights of the consumers. The composition of these consumer councils are broad based.
The citizens and organisations representing different interest groups having implications
for consumer‘s rights protection are members of these councils. One may like to add, that
the Consumer Councils are required to be constituted on public private partnership basis
for better feed back and thereby review of the policy in the area of consumer‘s rights
protection. The main objective of these councils is to promote and protect rights and
interests of consumers in the society.
It also provides for Consumer Disputes Redressal Adjudicatory bodies established at
three levels i.e. District, State and National. They are known as District Forums, State
Commissions and National Commission. District Forum is composed of President and
two SOME REFLECTIONS 15 members (one member is woman). Every member of the
District Forum shall hold office for a term of five years or upto the age of 65 years,
whichever is earlier and shall be eligible for reappointment.
Now graduation is the minimum educational qualification for a member. The State
Commission is presided over by Retired High Court Judge. The National Commission is
presided over by the retired Supreme Court Judge. The District Forum can adjudicate on
the matter upto Rs. 20 lakhs, State Commission upto one crore and National Commission
above Rs. one crore. The proceedings before these adjudicatory bodies are regulated in
accordance with the principles of natural justice. At present 571 District Fora and 35 State
137
Commissions are functioning all over the country besides the National Commission. Now
State Commissions and National Commission have started sitting in Circuit Benches. It
may, however, be highlighted that there are 253 Vacancies of the Presidents and
Members of the Forums in the entire Country. It may also be mentioned that at present
there are 73 District Forums, which are non-functional. Now complaints filed are required
to be accompanied with such amount of fee and payable in such manner as may be
prescribed. Fee structure for the cases filed in the District Forums has been prescribed by
the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution by Rule 9A of the
Consumer Protection (Amendment) Rules, 2004, which is as follows:
Value of goods or services Amount of fee payable and compensation claimed
(1) Upto one lakh rupee Rs. 100
(2) One lakh and above but less than five lakh rupees Rs. 200
(3) Five lakh rupees and above but less than Rs.10 lakh Rs. 400
(4) Ten lakh rupees and above but not exceeding Rs.20 lakh Rs. 500
As on 30.9.2004 the total number of cases field and disposed of in the National
Commission, State Commissions and as on 30.06.2004, District Forums are as below:
Redressal Agency Complaints Complaints Percentage Filed Disposed of
National Commission 35535 27729 78.03%
State Commissions 355012 237808 66.99%
District Forums 1944768 1709603 87.91%
TOTAL 2335315 1975140 84.57%
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The National Commission, State Commissions and District
Forums are required to decide complaint, as far as possible, within a period of three
months from the date of notice received by the opposite party where complaint does not
requires analysis or testing of commodities and within five months if it requires analysis
or testing of commodities. The Appeals are allowed within 30 days against the order of
the District Forum to the State Commission and against the order of the State
Commission, to the National Commission. Appeal can also be preferred to the Supreme
Court against the order of the National Commission within a period of 30 days. No appeal
by a person who is required to pay any amount in terms of an order of the National
Commission shall be entertained by the Supreme Court unless that person has deposited
in the prescribed manner fifty percent of that amount or rupees fifty thousand, whichever
is less. Similarly there is a requirement for depositing Rs. 35000/- and Rs. 25000/- in case
of appeals to National Commission and State Commission.
From the various reports and feedback received by the Central Government, it is evident
that many of the consumer forums have SOME REFLECTIONS 17 not been provided
with adequate accommodation, infrastructure facilities and staff. In many State
Commissions and District Forums, vacancies of Presidents/Members have not been filled
up which adversely affects the disposal of cases. It should be remembered that the
confidence of the consumer ultimately depends upon the successful functioning of the
Consumer Commissions/Forums. It is, therefore, a matter of utmost importance that these
agencies must function effectively, efficiently and without any interruption. For this to
happen state governments are having definite role to perform.
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Other Important Aspects of C.P. Act
Who is a Complainant4?
Complainant means
- a Consumer;
- any Voluntary Consumer Association;
- the Central Government;
- the State Governments or Union Territory Administration;
- one or more consumers , where there are numerous
consumers having the same interest and
- in case of death of a consumer, his legal heir or representative.
What Constitute a Complaint5?
An allegation in writing made by the complainant that
- Any unfair trade practice or restrictive trade practice has been adopted by any trader.
- The goods bought or agreed to be bought suffer from one or more defects.
- Services hired /availed or agreed to be hired /availed suffer from deficiencies in any
respect.
- That a trader has charged for the goods or services mentioned in the complaint, a price
in excess of the stipulated price.
(i) fixed by or under any law for the time being in force; or
(ii) displayed on goods; or
(iii) displayed on any package containing such goods
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- That goods or services which are hazardous to life and safety of the public are being
offered to the public The definitions of ‗goods‘, ‗services‘ and ‗deficiencies‘ are given in
the Act.
4 CPA Sec 2 (1)(b)
5 Ibid Sec 2(1) (c )
SOME REFLECTIONS 19
Who can file a Complaint6?
A complaint can be filed by - A consumer to whom goods are sold or delivered or agreed
to be sold or delivered or such services provided or agreed to be provided.
- Voluntary Consumer Organisation
- the Central Government;
- the State Governments or Union Territory Administration;
- one or more consumers , where there are numerous consumers having the same interest
The definition of consumer is wide but only a consumer to whom goods are sold or
delivered or agreed to be sold or delivered or such services provided or agreed to be
provided can file complaint. The definition as provided under Sec. 2(1) (b) is different
from list of persons who can file complaint. The legal heirs or representatives of the
deceased have been included in definition of ‗complainant‘ by 2002 amendment but have
not been specified in Sec. 12(1) as person who can file complaint, which, creates a doubt
that he can not file and can only continue as a complainant after the death of the
complainant.
A Complaint should contain the following information
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(a) The name, description and address of the complainant;
(b) The name, description and address of the opposite party or parties;
(c) The facts relating the complaint and when and where it arose;
(d) Documents ‗if any‘ in support of allegations and
(e) The relief which the complainant is seeking.
6 Ibid Sec 12 (1)
The complaint should be signed by the Complainant or his/ her authorised agent.
Reliefs Available to Consumers:
Following reliefs are available to the Consumers under the Act7:
- Removal of defects from the goods;
- Replacement of the goods;
- Refund of the price paid;
- Award of compensation for the loss or injury suffered;
- Discontinue and not to repeat unfair trade practice or restrictive trade practice;
- not to offer hazardous goods for sale;
- to withdraw hazardous goods from sale;
- to cease manufacture of hazardous goods and desist from offering services which are
hazardous in nature;
- if the loss or injury has been suffered by a large number of consumers who are not
identifiable conveniently, to pay such sum (not less than 5% of the value of such
defective goods or services provided) which shall be determined by Forum;
- to issue corrective advertisement to neutralise the effect of misleading advertisement;
- to provide adequate costs to parties.
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V. Highlights of the Consumer Protection (Amendment) Act,
2002 as notified on 15th March 2003
- In case of death of a consumer, his legal heir or representative
– a new sub-clause (1) under Section 2 of the Principal Act.
- Exclusion of a person who avails of such service for any commercial purpose from the
category of the consumer.
However, the ―Commercial purpose‖ does not include use by a 7 Ibid Sec 14 (1)
SOME REFLECTIONS 21 person of goods bought and used by him and services availed
by him exclusively for the purpose of earning his livelihood by means of self-
employment.
- ―Spurious goods and services‖ in the form of new clause (oo) after clause (o) under
Section 2 of the Principal Act.
- With a view to promote and protect within the district the rights of the consumer laid
down under the Principal Act ―establishment of the District Consumer Protection
Council‖ under the Chairmanship of the District Collector, insertion of new Sections 8A
and 8B; is proposed.
- Qualifications including academic and also disqualifications for members.
- Re-appointment of a member for another term of five years or up to the age of sixty-five
years, which ever is earlier.
- Substitution of new Section for Section 12 dealing with the manner in which complaint
shall be made.
- Provisions dealing with adjournment – ― no adjournment shall e ordinarily granted‖.
Proviso to the new sub-clause (3A) under Section 13 of the Principal Act.
- Power to make ―interim order‖ new sub-clause (3B) of Section13
143
- Power to grant ―punitive damages‖ new proviso to clause (d) of Sub-Section (1) of
Section 14.
- Power to issue ―corrective advertisement‖ to neutralize the effect of misleading
advertisement at the cost of the opposite party, new clause (nc) under Sub-Section (1) of
Section 14.
- Benches of the State Commission may be constituted by the President of the State
Commission with one or more members.
- Insertion of new Section 17A authorising the State Commission, on the application of
the complainant or of its own motion, to transfer any complaint pending before the
District Forum to another District Forum within the State in the interest of justice.
- Creation of benches of the National Commission.
- Power of the National Commission to review its own order, when there is an error
apparent on the face of record.
- Provision in regard to the execution of orders of the District Forum, the State
Commission or the National Commission.
- All offences under the Consumer Protection Act may be tried summarily,
notwithstanding anything contained in the code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The District
Forum, the State Commission or the National Commission shall have the power of a
Judicial Magistrate of the first class for the trial of offences.
- New Section 28-A dealing with the procedure for service of notice.
SOME REFLECTIONS 23
144
Consumer Protection:
Implications for Good Governance
An effective, efficient and fair implementation of the Consumer Protection Act is one of
the conditions precedent for promoting the culture of good governance and thereby
ensuring the better promotion and protection of the rights of the consumers.
If the rights of the consumers in relation to the quality of goods and services are assured
and taken care of then there will be no cause for complaints. This situation would
certainly create an atmosphere wherein the clients, customers and consumers would feel
satisfied with the things needed most to them. In this context, the concerns of the good
governance need to be mentioned briefly with a view to establish linkage with the
concern of the Consumer Protection law and institutions. Generally speaking, the thrusts
of the good governance movement are – efficiency, effectiveness, ethics, equality,
economy, transparency, accountability, empowerment, rationality, impartiality and
participation.
In view of these requirements of the good governance one can easily and with success
establish the co-relations with the concerns of the Consumer Protection law and policies.
From the point of view of the concerns of the Consumer Protection Law, it may generally
be emphasised that the concerns of consumers‘ rights protection are to ensure fair trade
practices, quality goods and deficiency free services with information in regard to quality,
quantity, potency, components and price with a view to provide opportunity to the
consumers in regard to their choices.
In view of the remedies available to the consumers under the Consumer Protection laws
there is no doubt that at the end of the day, if efforts of the operators of law and agencies
are genuine and there is a sense of commitment, the culture of good governance would
145
pervade wherein the consumers would feel highly satisfied and there would be no real
cause for making a complaint or showing their dissatisfaction in any way. Therefore,the
proper and effective implementation of the laws, dealing with the protection of the
Consumers‘ rights would promote the cause and concern of the good governance.
It would, finally, be better to highlight one or two areas with a view to focus the
developments in regard to the protection of Consumers‘ rights as well as the concern of
he good governance. As stated earlier, one of the concerns of the good governance
movement is to promote and ensure accountability of producers and providers in public
domain. The judgement of the Supreme Court in Lucknow Development Authority Vs.
M.K.Gupta8 may be cited as an illustration. In the instant case the Supreme Court while
establishing the jurisdiction of the Consumer Disputes Redressal Agencies created under
the Consumer Protection Act emphasised that the service provided by a private body or a
statutory or public authority are within the jurisdiction of the Consumer Protection Act. In
this context, the Supreme Court also laid down that any defect or deficiency in such
service would be treated as unfair trade practice and would amount to denial of service.
It would be instructive to highlight the observation of theSupreme Court in the above case
in regard to the concept of public accountability. The Supreme Court observed as follow:
― The administrative law of accountability of public authorities for their arbitrary and
even ultra-vires actions has taken many strides. It is now accepted that the state is liable
to compensate for loss or injury suffered by a citizen due to arbitrary actions of its
employees … No functionary 8 (1994) 1SCC 243, See also Ghaziabad Development
Authority vs Balbir Singh, AIR 2004 SCW 2362.
SOME REFLECTIONS 25 in exercise of statutory power can claim immunity … Public
authorities acting in violation of constitutional or statutory provisions oppressively are
146
accountable for their behaviour… Each hierarchy in the Act is empowered to entertain a
complaint by the Consumer for value of the goods or services and compensation… The
Commission or the Forum in the Act is thus entitled to award not only value of the good
or services but also to compensate a consumer for injustice suffered by him.‖9
In continuation, it was further observed that the award of compensation is not the only
issue today. The concept of public functionary has undergone tremendous change with
passage of time and change in socio-economic outlook … In a modern society no
authority can arrogate to itself the power to act in a manner which is arbitrary … It is now
imperative and implicit in the exercise of power that it should be for the sake of society. ―
It is, therefore, necessary that the Commission when it is satisfied that a complainant is
entitled to compensation for harassment or mental agony or oppression… then it should,
further direct the department concerned to pay the amount to the complainant from the
public fund immediately but to recover the same from those who are found responsible
for such unpardonable behaviour…‖10 In view of the above law of personal
accountability of the concerned public functionary as laid down by the Supreme Court
while protecting the rights of Consumers under the Consumer Protection Act is in fact an
appreciable contribution to the body of law on public accountability which is one of the
major concerns of 9 Ibid. 258
10 Ibid. 264
The good governance movement. In view of the importance of the law on public
accountability and the role of the Consumers‘ adjudicatory bodies, the above decision
should be made a compulsory reading for all those having role to play in the promotion
and protection of the consumers‘ rights and also with the process of administrative
reforms for good governance. Similarly, the approach of the Supreme Court in ensuring
147
qualitative change in the attitude of the medical service provided by the hospitals and the
medical professionals followed in the Indian Medical Association Vs. V.P. Shantha and
Ors11, deserves high appreciation with a view to giving real meaning to the
accountability of professionals. In Charan Singh‟s judgment12 the observation of the
Supreme Court to the effect that ―the Consumer Forums while quantifying damages are
required to make an attempt to serve the ends of justice so that compensation is awarded,
in an established case, which not only serve the purpose of recompensing the individual,
but which also at the same time, aims to bring about a qualitative change in the attitude of
the service provider‖. It may, in addition, be pointed out, in view of the number of
complaints brought before the Consumer Forums and Commissions, that the number of
complaints in regard to the quality of public services are more than complaints dealing
with defects in goods. Keeping in view the changing economic scenario, the number of
complaints in regard to the deficiencies in services would certainly increase in the future.
Therefore, the Consumer Forums and Commissions established under the Consumer
Protection Act, need to be given extra attention to ensure its efficient, effective, fair and
inexpensive functioning. 11 AIR 1996 SC 550, See also Dr. J.J.Merchant and ors Vs.
Srinath Chaturvedi,
III, (2002) CPJ 8 (SC).
12 Charan Singh Vs Healing Touch Hospital and ors. (2000) 7 SCC 668
SOME REFLECTIONS 27
148
VII. Consumer Protection Movement – Future Direction.
Consumer Protection movement to be effective and meaningful needs the proactive
support of the government, business, organisations of Civil Society, Educational
Institutions – Schools, Colleges, Universities and Research Institutions. Over and above
the support of pro bono publico and of every individual is a sine qua non for the
Consumer movement to be purposeful. The policies, schemes and programmes of the
Government of India through the Department of Consumer Affairs are no doubt useful
but their effectiveness finally depend on the involvement of the institutions and the
people at large. A number of schemes have already been in operation such as, Grahak
Jagaran, Consumer Clubs in Schools, Promoting involvement of Research Institutions,
Universities, Colleges, etc. in Consumer Protection and Welfare etc. Similar schemes and
programmes are needed at the State Government level also to provide further impetus to
the Consumer movement in the Country. Organisations of the Civil Societies are having
special responsibility in this regard and so is the case of the educational institutions.
While expanding the scope of Consumer Law, National Commission opened new doors
in Bhupesh Khurana and others V Vishwa Budha Parishad and others13 that imparting
education falls within the ambit of service as defined under CPA. It was held that fees are
paid for services to be rendered by way of imparting education by educational
institutions. This is a great move in the direction of Consumer Protection as many Five
stars schools & colleges are mushrooming day by day. These claim of false affiliation
with well known Universities in India as well as abroad and charge huge sums in the
name of fees and other charges, which is unaffordable for the common man. Many of
these institutions appoint unqualified staff and faculty to teach a particular stream and
sometimes even such 13 (2000) CTJ 801.
149
Faculty is not available. Examinations are not held in time or results are not declared for
months or even years, or certificates are not issued to them. Most of such Institutions are
being run by fly- by night operators with only commercial motives. In the last decade
imparting education has become just another business rather than service to the society.
To be cheated and lose hard earned money is one thing but more important fact is that the
future of many students is at stake.
In many such cases, which have come before the National Commission, the apex
consumer court has clearly held that providing education is a service and has
compensated the aggrieved consumer. In a number of cases the non supply of Roll
Number, unexplained delay in deciding the application for admission, misrepresentation
in advertisement and prospectus about the recognition of the college, non refund of the
initial payment as college fee etc. have been held as deficiency in service.
Role of Educational Institutions in Consumer Protection Movement may not legitimately
be denied on any conceivable ground. Educational Institutions, therefore, are expected to
play a positive role in promoting Consumer Protection Movement. There may be different
ways to achieve the objective of Consumer education about their rights and interest. It is
said that aware Consumer is an asset to the society. Various methodologies,
Educational Institutions are expected to follow such as, Seminars, Workshops, Lectures,
Discussions, Colloquiums, Essay Competitions, Quizzes etc. in the area of Consumer
Protection and Welfare to give boost to the Consumer Protection Movement in the
Country.
SOME REFLECTIONS 29
150
Concluding Remarks
The efficient and effective programme of Consumer Protection is of special significance
to all of us because we all are consumers. Even a manufacturer or provider of a service is
a consumer of some other goods or services. If both the producers/ providers and
consumers realize the need for co-existence, adulterated products, spurious goods and
other deficiencies in services would become a thing of the past. The active involvement
and participation from all quarters i.e. the central and state governments, the educational
Institutions, the NGO‘s, the print and electronic media and the adoption and observance
of a voluntary code of conduct by the trade and industry and the citizen‘s charter by the
service providers is necessary to see that the consumers get their due. The need of the
hour is for total commitment to the consumer cause and social responsiveness to
consumer needs. This should, however, proceed in a harmonious manner so that our
society becomes a better place for all of us to live in.
151
COMPLAINT UNDERSECTIONI2/ SECTION17/ SECTION21 OF THE
CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT, 1986.
RESPECTFULLY SHOWETH
INTRODUCTION
(In this opening paragraph the complainant should give his introduction as well as that of
the opposite party/parties.
TRANSACTION
(In this paragraph complainant should describe the transaction complained of, i.e.,
particulars and details of goods/ services availed; items of goods/kind and nature of
service; date of purchase of goods/ availing of service; amount paid as
price/consideration, full or in part towards the goods/service; Photocopies of the bill/cash
memo/ voucher or receipt should be attached and properly marked as
Annexure – A,B,C and so forth or 1,2,3 and so forth.)
SOME REFLECTIONS 33
DEFECT DEFICIENCY
(In this paragraph complainant should explain the grievance, i.e., whether the loss or
damage has been caused by some unfair trade practice or restrictive trade practice
adopted by any trader or there is some defect in the goods or there has been deficiency in
service or the trader has charged excessive price for the goods. One should elucidate the
nature of unfair trade practice adopted by the trader, i.e., relating to the quality of
goods/services; sponsorship; warranty or guarantee for such period promised. The nature
and extent of defects in goods should be explained and so should the deficiency in
152
service. In case of excessive price one should specify the details of actual price fixed by
or under any law for the time being in force or as set out on goods and their packing vis-
a-vis the price charged by the trader. Complaint can also be filed against offer for sale of
goods hazardous to life and safety when used. You should narrate your grievance and rest
assured it is being read /heard by compassionate and pragmatic judges. Photocopies of
relevant documents must be attached.)
RECTIFICATION
(In this paragraph complainant should highlight what attempts were made by him to set
things right, i.e., personal visits or negotiations; communication in writing if any; whether
any legal notice was got served and / or whether he has approached any other agency for
redressal like,Civil or Criminal Court of competent jurisdiction; the stage of its
proceedings, its outcome, if any, alongwith copies (certified preferably) of such
proceedings. The nature of response got from the trader when irregularities were brought
to his notice, should also be disclosed here).
OTHERPROVISIONS
(In this paragraph reference may be made to any other law or rules or regulations of
particular procedure which is applicable to the case and/ or which has been violated by
the trader and consumer‘s rights under the same. There are incidental statutory
obligations, which traders must fulfil and in case of their failure to do so the case in prima
facie made out and Forum would take cognizance).
153
EVIDENCE
(In this paragraph complainant should give details of documents and/ or witnesses he will
rely upon to substantiate his case. The documents attached as Annexures as stated above
may be incorporated in a proper list and a list of witnesses (if any) may be filed
similarly).The annexures should be attested as ―True Copy‖.
JURISDICTION
(In this paragraph complainant should liquidate the claim in the complaint, i.e., upto 20
lakh; 20 lakh to one crore; or above and set out the pecuniary jurisdiction of the Forum/
State Commission/National Commission, as the case may be. The territorial Jurisdiction
should be highlighted to obviate any formal objection).
LIMITATION
That the present complaint is being filed within the period prescribed under section 24A
of the Act.
RELIEF CLAIMED
(In this paragraph complainant should describe the nature of relief he wants to claim. i.e.,
for removal of defects in goods or deficiency in service; replacement with new goods;
return of the price or charges, etc., paid and/or compensation on account of financial loss
or injury or detriment to his interest occasioned by negligence of the opposite party and
elucidate how you have calculated the amount of compensation claimed).
154
PRAYER CLAUSE
It is, therefore, most respectfully prayed that this Hon‘ble Forum/ Commission may
kindly be pleased to ....................................................................... (Details of reliefs which
complainant wants the Court to grant)
Place:................................... Dated:...................................
Complainant Through ...................................
(Advocate or Consumer Association, etc.)
SOME REFLECTIONS
155
DELEGATED LEGISLATION MONITOR
21-24 JUNE 2010
There were 94 disallowable instruments tabled in the Parliament.
These were made under 36 separate enabling Acts, through 12 Departments of State.
Regulations
17 of the 94 instruments were Regulations, comprising
 0 made as primary instruments; and
 17 made as amending instruments
Instrument makers
37 instruments were made by the Governor-General or Ministers
57 instruments were made by Public Officials
156
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FORESTRY
Fisheries Management (Southern Squid Fisheries Research and Development

Jig Fishery Management Plan 2005) Corporation Amendment Regulations
Temporary Order 2010 under 2010 (No. 1)
subsection 43(2) of the Fisheries Select Legislative Instrument 2010 No.
Management Act 1991 126
[F2010L01722]
[F2010L01584]
Fisheries Management Act 1991 Primary Industries and Energy Research

and Development Act 1989
Made 18/06/2010
Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010 Made 15/06/2010
HR Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010
Summar Amends the principal Order to HR
y replace references to Amend the principal

Summar
‗SquidMAC‘ (being the Squid Regulations to specify the
y
Management Advisory proportion of annual fishing
Committee) with reference to levies that are to be directed to
SEMAC (being the South East the Fisheries Research and
Management Advisory Development Corporation in
Committee). the 2009-10 financial year.
157
DEPARTMENT OF BROADBAND, COMMUNICATIONS AND THE DIGITAL
ECONOMY
Do Not Call Register (Access to Do Not Call Register (Administration

Register) Amendment Determination and Operation) Amendment
2010 (No. 2) under subsection 20(1) of Determination 2010 (No. 2) under
the Do Not Call Register Act 2006 subsection 18(1) of the Do not Call
[F2010L01633] Register Act 2006
[F2010L01632]
Do Not Call Register Act 2006
Do Not Call Register Act 2006
Made 10/06/2010
Made 10/06/2010
Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010
HR Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010
HR
Summar Corrects a drafting error in the
y principal Determination. Summar Corrects drafting errors in the
y principal Determination.
158
Radiocommunications (Interpretation) Radiocommunications (Transmitter
Amendment Determination 2010 (No. 2) Licence Tax) Amendment
under subsection 64(1) of the Australian Determination 2010 (No. 4) under
Communications and Media Authority subsection 7(1) of the
Act 2005 Radiocommunications (Transmitter
[F2010L01707] Licence Tax) Act 1983
[F2010L01706]
Australian Communications and Media
Authority Act 2005 Radiocommunications (Transmitter
Licence Tax) Act 1983
Made 17/06/2010
Made 17/06/2010
Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010
HR Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010
HR
Summar Amends the principal
y Determination to insert a Summar Amends the principal
definition of a new public y Determination to provide for a
telecommunications service new public telecommunications
apparatus licence type. service apparatus licence type.
159
Television Licence Fees Amendment
Regulations 2010 (No. 1)
Select Legislative Instrument 2010 No.
141
[F2010L01591]
Television Licence Fees Act 1964
Made 15/06/2010
Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR
Summar Amend the principal

y Regulations to specify a rebate
scheme for eligible television
broadcasting licensees.
160
DEPARTMENT OF CLIMATE CHANGE
Renewable Energy (Electricity)

Amendment Regulations 2010 (No. 3)
142
[F2010L01597]
Renewable Energy (Electricity) (Charge)

Act 2000
Made 15/06/2010
Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR

y Regulations concerning safety
and quality compliance
requirements for certain small
generation units.
161
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE
Defence Determination 2010/23 Defence Determination 2010/24
Defence Act 1903 Defence Act 1903
Made 2/06/2010 Made 2/06/2010
Tabled 21/06/2010 S 17/06/2010 Tabled 21/06/2010 S 17/06/2010

HR HR
Summar Amends the list of approved Summar Amends rates of financial

y summer schools for Japan, and y assistance for cost incurred by
amends the list of approved members of the Australian
club memberships for members Defence Force on posting in
of the Australian Defence connection with their
Force on long-term postings children‘s education.
overseas.
162
Defence Determination 2010/25
Defence Act 1903
Made 8/06/2010
Tabled 21/06/2010 S 17/06/2010

HR
Summar Specifies revised post indexes

y that apply to overseas locations
where members of the
Australian Defence Force
serve.
Defence Determination 2010/26
Defence Act 1903
Made 10/06/2010
Tabled 21/06/2010 S 17/06/2010

HR
Summar Amends subsidies paid in the

y Group Rent Scheme, amends
accommodation allowances,
and makes other amendments
to the principal Determination.
163
DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT, WATER, HERITAGE AND THE
ARTS
Amendment — List of Specimens taken Amendment — List of Specimens taken

to be Suitable for Live Import — to be Suitable for Live Import —
s.303EB under paragraph 303EC(1)(a) s.303EB under paragraph 303EC(1)(a)
of the Environment Protection and of the Environment Protection and
Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
EPBC/s.303EC/SSLI/Amend/034 EPBC/s.303EC/SSLI/Amend/036
[F2010L01574] [F2010L01572]
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Environment Protection and Biodiversity

Conservation Act 1999 Conservation Act 1999
Made 3/06/2010 Made 16/03/2010
Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010 Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR HR
Summar Adds two species of dung Summar Removes one species of deer
y beetle to the list of specimens y from the list of specimens that
that are suitable for live import. are suitable for live import.
164
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND AGEING
Aged Care (Amount of Flexible Care Aged Care (Amount of Flexible Care
Subsidy — Extended Aged Care at Subsidy — Extended Aged Care at
Home — Dementia) Determination 2010 Home) Determination 2010 (No. 1)
(No. 1) under section 52-1 of the Aged under section 52-1 of the Aged Care Act
Care Act 1997 1997
[F2010L01530] [F2010L01529]
Aged Care Act 1997 Aged Care Act 1997
Made 15/06/2010 Made 15/06/2010
Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010 Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR HR
Summar Specifies the method for Summar Specifies the method for
y determining the amount of y determining the amount of
flexible care subsidy payable in flexible care subsidy payable in
certain circumstances involving certain circumstances.
dementia.
165
Subsidy — Innovative Care Service — Subsidy — Innovative Care Services)
Congress Community Development and Determination 2010 (No. 1) under
Education Unit Ltd) Determination 2010 section 52-1 of the Aged Care Act 1997
(No. 1) under section 52-1 of the Aged [F2010L01650]
Care Act 1997
[F2010L01532] Aged Care Act 1997
Made 15/06/2010
Aged Care Act 1997
Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010
Made 15/06/2010
HR
Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010
Summar Specifies the amount of
HR
y flexible care subsidy for a day
Summar Extends the provision of care recipient.
y flexible care subsidy for places
allocated to a named approved
provider until July 2011.
166
Subsidy — Multi-Purpose Services) Subsidy — Transition Care Services)
Determination 2010 (No. 1) under Determination 2010 (No. 1) under
section 52-1 of the Aged Care Act 1997 section 52-1 of the Aged Care Act 1997
[F2010L01531] [F2010L01535]
Made 15/06/2010 Made 15/06/2010
Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010 Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR HR
Summar Specifies the method for Summar Specifies the amount of

y determining the rate of flexible y flexible care subsidy from 1
care subsidy payable to multi- July 2010 that is payable for
purpose services from 1 July flexible care in the form of
2010. transition care under certain
circumstances.
167
Aged Care (Community Care Subsidy Aged Care (Residential Care Subsidy —
Amount) Determination 2010 (No. 1) Adjusted Subsidy Reduction)
under subsection 48-1(3) of the Aged Determination 2010 (No. 1) under
Care Act 1997 section 44-19 of the Aged Care Act 1997
[F2010L01528] [F2010L01295]
Made 15/06/2010 Made 15/06/2010
Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010 Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR HR
Summar Specifies the method for Summar Specifies the adjusted subsidy
y determining the amount of y reduction amount from 1 July
community care subsidy from 1 2010.
July 2010.
168
Aged Care (Residential Care Subsidy — Aged Care (Residential Care Subsidy —
Amount of Enteral Feeding Supplement) Amount of Oxygen Supplement)
Determination 2010 (No. 1) under Determination 2010 (No. 1) under
subsection 44-14(6) of the Aged Care Act subsection 44-13(6) of the Aged Care Act
1997 1997
[F2010L01293] [F2010L01294]
Made 15/06/2010 Made 15/06/2010
Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010 Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2020

HR HR
Summar Determines the amount of the Summar Determines the amount of the
y enteral feeding supplement y oxygen supplement from 1 July
from 1 July 2010. 2010.
169
Aged Care (Residential Care Subsidy — Aged Care (Residential Care Subsidy —
Amount of Viability Supplement) Basic Subsidy Amount) Determination
Amount of Viability Supplement) 2010 (No. 1) under subsection 44-3(2) of
Determination 2010 (No. 1) under the Aged Care Act 1997
subsection 44-29(8) of the Aged Care Act [F2010L01480]
1997
[F2010L01512] Aged Care Act 1997
Made 15/06/2010
Aged Care Act 1997
Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010
Made 15/06/2010
HR
Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010
Summar Specifies the indexed rates of
HR
y basic subsidy that apply from 1
Summar Specifies the amount of July 2010.
y viability supplement that is
payable to eligible services.
170
Flexible Care Subsidy Amendment Health Insurance (General Medical
Principles 2010 (No. 1) under subsection Services Table) Amendment Regulations
96-1(1) of the Aged Care Act 1997 2010 (No. 4)
[F2010L01652] Select Legislative Instrument 2010 No.
127
Aged Care Act 1997
[F2010L01284]
Made 15/06/2010
Health Insurance Act 1973
Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010
HR Made 15/06/2010
Amend the principal Principles Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

Summar
to apply them to consumer HR
y
directed care, and make minor Remove a redundant provision
Summar
technical amendment. y from the principal Regulations.
171
Health Insurance (Leukoscan) Health Insurance (Positron Emission
Determination 2010 under subsection Tomography) Facilities Determination
3C(1) of the Health Insurance Act 1973 2010 under subsection 3C(1) of the
[F2010L01653] Health Insurance Act 1973
[F2010L01605]
Made 15/06/2010
Made 10/06/2010
Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010
HR Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010
HR
Summar Revokes the Health Insurance
y (LeukoScan) Determination Summar Revokes and replaces the
2006. y previous Determination
concerning eligibility of
Medicare benefits for positron
emission tomography services.
172
Hearing Services (Participants in the Instrument No. PB 054 of 2010 made
Voucher System) Amendment under subsections 85(2), 85(2A) and
Determination 2010 (No. 1) under 85(2AA) of the National Health Act 1953
subsection 13(1) of the Hearing Services [F2010L01623]
Administration Act 1997
[F2010L01642] National Health Act 1953
Made 3/06/2010
Hearing Services Administration Act 1997
Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010
Made 2/06/2010
HR
Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010
Summar Specifies revisions to the list of
HR
y drugs and medicinal
Summar Amends the principal preparations that are available
y Determination to implement as pharmaceutical benefits.
the minimum hearing loss
threshold.
173
Instrument No. PB 055 of 2010 under Instrument No. PB 056 of 2010 made
sections 85, 85A and 88 of the National under section 84AF of the National
Health Act 1953 Health Act 1953
[F2010L01637] [F2010L01631]
National Health Act 1953 National Health Act 1953
Made 3/06/2010 Made 3/06/2010
Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010 Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010

HR HR
Summar Specifies revisions to the list of Summar Determines, for specified

y drugs and medicinal y brands of pharmaceutical
preparations that are available items, the responsible persons
as pharmaceutical benefits. for those brands.
174
Instrument No. PB 057 of 2010 under Instrument No. PB 058 of 2010 under
section 85B of the National Health Act paragraph 98C(1)(b) of the National
1953 Health Act 1953
[F2010L01635] [F2010L01622]
Made 3/06/2010 Made 3/06/2010
Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010 Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010

HR HR
Summar Amends the principal Summar Specifies conditions under

y Determination concerning price y which payments will be made
determinations for in respect of the supply of
pharmaceutical items. pharmaceutical benefits by
approved pharmacists and
approved medical practitioners.
175
subsection 100(1) of the National Health subsection 84AAA(2) of the National
Act 1953 Health Act 2053
[F2010L01644] [F2010L01639]
Made 7/06/2010 Made 3/06/2010
Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010 Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR HR
Summar Amends the arrangements for Summar Amends the list of

y the availability of special y pharmaceutical items for the
pharmaceutical products under purposes of provisions in the
the Chemotherapy Act dealing with early supply
Pharmaceuticals Access of pharmaceutical benefits.
Program.
176
subsection 100(1) of the National Health subparagraph 100(1)(b)(ii) of the
Act 1953 National Health Act 1953
[F2010l01537] [F2010L01724]
Made 9/06/2010 Made 21/06/2010
Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010 Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR HR
Summar Specifies an increase in the Summar Specifies arrangements to

y handling fee for pharmacists y assist eligible Aboriginal and
under the Remote Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander patients
Health Services Program. to access PBS medicines with
reduced patient co-payments.
177
National Health Security Amendment Private Health Insurance (Benefit
Regulations 2010 (No. 1) Requirements) Amendment Rules 2010
Select Legislative Instrument 2010 No. (No. 3) under item 3A of the table in
128 section 333-20 of the Private Health
Insurance Act 2007
[F2010L01071]
[F2010L01646]
National Health Security Act 2007
Private Health Insurance Act 2007
Made 15/06/2010
Made 11/06/2010
Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010
HR Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010
HR
Regulations to provide for the Summar Revoke and remake Rules
y
addition of further exempt y which specify the minimum
entities and make other minor benefit requirements for
amendments. psychiatric, rehabilitation and

palliative care and other
hospital treatment.
178
Private Health Insurance (Complying Private Health Insurance (Data
Product) Amendment Rules 2010 (No. 2) Provision) Rules 2010 under item 9 of
under item 3 of the table in section 333- the table in section 333-20 of the Private
20 of the Private Health Insurance Act Health Insurance Act 2007
2007 [F2010L01753]
[F2010L01647]
Made 22/06/2010
Made 11/06/2010
Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010
Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010 HR
HR
Summar Revoke and remake Rules
Summar Amend the amounts for the y which specify the kinds of
y NHTP patient contribution at information relating to
public hospitals in the treatment of insured persons
Australian Capital Territory that private health insurers
and the Northern Territory. must provide to the Secretary
of the Department of Health
and Ageing.
179
Private Health Insurance (Health Quality of Care Amendment Principles
Insurance Business) Rules 2010 under 2010 (No. 1) under subsection 96-1(1) of
item 6 of the table in section 333-20 of the Aged Care Act 1997
the Private Health Insurance Act 2007 [F2010L01651]
[F2010L01740]
Aged Care Act 1997
Made 15/06/2010
Made 22/06/2010
Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010
Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010 HR
HR
Summar Amend the principal Principles
Summar Revoke and remake Rules y to replace the annual fire safety
y which specify the statistical declaration requirement with a
information that must be requirement for notification of
provided by hospitals to non-compliance with State or
insurers and by private Territory laws.
hospitals to the Department of
Health and Ageing, and
provide for other matters
relating to the declaration of
facilities as hospitals.
180
Residential Care Subsidy Amendment Therapeutic Goods Amendment
Principles 2010 (No. 1) under subsection Regulations 2010 (No. 2)
96-1 of the Aged Care Act 1997 Select Legislative Instrument 2010 No.
[F2010L01655] 129
Aged Care Act 1997 [F2010L01285]
Therapeutic Goods Act 1989

Made 15/06/2010
Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010 Made 15/06/2010
HR Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010
Amend the principal Principles HR

Summar
y to remove certain reporting Summar Amend the principal
requirements concerning the Regulations to specify new
y
Conditional Adjustment scheduling arrangements for
Payment. medicines and chemicals.
181
Therapeutic Goods Amendment Therapeutic Goods (Charges)
Regulations 2010 (No. 3) Amendment Regulations 2010 (No. 1)
Select Legislative Instrument 2010 No. Select Legislative Instrument 2010 No.
130 131
[F2010L01282] [F2010L01283]
Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 Therapeutic Goods (Charges) Act 1989
Made 15/06/2010 Made 15/06/2010
Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010 Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR HR
Summar Amend the principal Summar Amend the principal

y Regulations to specify y Regulations to specify
increases in certain fees. increases in certain charges.
182
Therapeutic Goods (Medical Devices)
Amendment Regulations 2010 (No. 2)
132
[F2010L01281]
Therapeutic Goods Act 1989
Made 15/06/2010
Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR

y Regulations to specify
increases in certain fees.
183
DEPARTMENT OF IMMIGRATION AND CITIZENSHIP
Migration Amendment Regulations 2010

(No. 6)
133
[F2010L01587]
Migration Act 1958
Made 15/06/2010
Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR
Summar Amend provisions in the

y principal Regulations
concerning the definition of
―skilled occupation‖, and make
various other amendments to
those Regulations.
184
DEPARTMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL
DEVELOPMENT AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Civil Aviation Orders, Part 39.001(1) Civil Aviation Orders, Part 39.001(1)
Airworthiness Directive AD/B727/74 Airworthiness Directive AD/BEECH
Amdt 1 65/64 Amdt 1
[F2010L01607] [F2010L01658]
Civil Aviation Act 1988 Civil Aviation Act 1988
Made 15/06/2010 Made 16/06/2010
Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010 Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010

HR HR
Summar Varies the technical Summar Varies the technical

y requirements for a particular y requirements for particular type
type of aircraft. of aircraft.
185
Civil Aviation Orders, Part 39.001(1) Exemption No. CASA EX45/10 under
Airworthiness Directive AD/F50/102 regulation 11.160 of the Civil Aviation
Safety Regulations 1998
[F2010L01613]
[F2010L01478]
Civil Aviation Act 1988
Made 15/06/2010
Made 10/06/2010
Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010
HR Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010
HR
Summar Varies the technical
requirements for particular type Summar Exempts a named operator
y
of aircraft. y from requirements concerning
export certificate of
airworthiness.
Civil Aviation Orders, Part 39.001(1)

Airworthiness Directive AD/F100/97
[F2010L01594]
Made 10/06/2010
Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR
Summar Varies the technical

y requirements for a particular
type of aircraft.
186
Exemption No. CASA EX52/10 under Instrument No. CASA 205/10 under
subregulation 308(1) of the Civil Aviation subregulation 179A(1) of the Civil
Regulations 1988 Aviation Regulations 1988
[F2010L01634] [F2010L01566]
Made 18/06/2010 Made 16/06/2010
Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010 Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010

HR HR
Summar Specifies exemptions for the Summar Permits the use of P-RNAV
y owners, operators and pilots of y procedures on a specified
Class A aircraft regarding time- aircraft operated by a named
in-service recording operator.
requirements.
187
Instrument No. CASA 210/10 under Instrument No. CASA ADCX 014/10
subregulation 179A(1) of the Civil under subregulation 39.001(1) of the
Aviation Regulations 1988 Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998
[F2010L01582] [F2010L01670]
Made 10/06/2010 Made 17/06/2010
Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010 Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR HR
Summar Permits the use of RNAV Summar The Airworthiness Directives

y (RNP-AR) approaches and y were revoked as follows:
departures on certain aircraft AD/JT3D/2 on 30 June 2010
operated by Qantas Airlines AD/CFM56/29 on 13 July
Ltd. 2010
AD/DAUPHIN/73 on 18 June
2010.
188
DEPARTMENT OF INNOVATION, INDUSTRY, SCIENCE AND RESEARCH
Independent Contractors Amendment

Regulations 2010 (No. 1)
134
[F2010L01586]
Independent Contractors Act 2006
Made 15/06/2010
Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010

HR

y Regulations to prescribe new
laws under paragraph 7(2)(c) of
the Independent Contractors
Act 2006.
189
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
A New Tax System (Goods and Services A New Tax System (Goods and Services
Tax) (Exempt Taxes, Fees and Charges) Tax) Third Party Adjustment Note
Determination 2010 (No. 2) under Information Requirements
section 81-5 of the A New Tax System Determination (No. 1) 2010 under
(Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 paragraph 134-20(1)(d) of the A New
[F2010L01559] Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act
1999
A New Tax System (Goods and Services [F2010L01588]
Tax) Act 1999
A New Tax System (Goods and Services
Made 7/06/2010
Tax) Act 1999
Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010
Made 9/06/2010
HR
Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010
Summar Specifies those taxes, fees and
HR
y charges that are excluded from
the scope of the goods and Summar Specifies information that must
services tax base. y be supplied by taxpayers in a
third party adjustment note.
190
ASIC Class Order [CO 10/464] Australian Prudential Regulation
[F2010L01687] Authority (confidentiality)
determination No. 13 of 2010 under
Corporations Act 2001 section 57 of the Australian Prudential
Regulation Authority Act 1998
Made 17/06/2010
[F2010L01774]
Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010
HR Australian Prudential Regulation
Authority Act 1998
Summar Amends the definition of ―short
y position‖ in the Corporations Made 23/06/2010
Regulations 2001 as modified
Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010
by ASIC Class Order [CO
HR
10/29].
Summar Provides that information
y provided to APRA by locally-
incorporated banks and foreign
authorised deposit taking
institutions under Reporting
Standard ARS 320.0 is non-
confidential.
191
Australian Prudential Regulation Australian Prudential Regulation
Authority instrument fixing charges No. Authority instrument fixing charges No.
2 of 2010 under paragraph 51(1)(a) of 3 of 2010 under subsection 51(1) of the
the Australian Prudential Regulation Australian Prudential Regulation
Authority Act 1998 Authority Act 1998
[F2010L01576] [F2010L01709]
Australian Prudential Regulation Australian Prudential Regulation

Authority Act 1998 Authority Act 1998
Made 4/06/2010 Made 21/06/2010
Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010 Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR HR
Summar Specifies certain charges for Summar Specifies certain charges for
y services provided by the y services provided by the
Australian Prudential Australian Prudential
Regulation Authority to the Regulation Authority relating
Reserve Bank of Australia and to the supervision of banks.
the Australian Bureau of
Statistics.
192
Corporations Amendment Regulations Income Tax Amendment Regulations
2010 (No. 5) 2010 (No. 2)
135 136
[F2010L01585] [F2010L01575]
Corporations Act 1989 Income Tax Assessment Act 1936
Made 15/06/2010 Made 15/06/2010
Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010 Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR HR

y Regulations to prescribe y Regulations regarding
matters relating to Product arrangements for overseas
Disclosure Statements for defence service and amend the
managed investment schemes, formula used to calculate the
margin loans, and rebate threshold for the senior
superannuation interests. Australians tax offset.
193
Life Insurance (prudential standard) Lodgment of income tax returns for the
determination No. 01 of 2010 under year of income ended 30 June 2010 in
subsection 230A(5) of the Life Insurance accordance with the Income Tax
Act 1995 Assessment Act 1936 and the Taxation
[F2010L00619] Administration Act 1953 — Child
Support Agency — parents with a child
Life Insurance Act 1995 support assessment
[F2010L01595]
Made 2/03/2010
Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010 Income Tax Assessment Act 1936

HR Taxation Administration Act 1953
Summar Revokes and replaces the Made 10/06/2010

y Prudential Standard LPS 310
Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010
Audit and Related Matters
HR
which applies to all life
companies including friendly Summar Requires liable and recipient
societies and registered non- y parents under a child support
operating holding companies. assessment to lodge an annual
income tax return, and
specifies the form for this.
194
Lodgment of returns for the year of Lodgment of statements by first home
income ended 30 June 2010 in saver account providers for the year
accordance with the Income Tax ended 30 June 2010 in accordance with
Assessment Act 1936, the Income Tax the Taxation Administration Act 1953
Assessment Act 1997, the Taxation [F2010L01596]
Administration Act 1953, the
Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Taxation Administration Act 1953
Act 1993, and the Income Tax

Made 10/06/2010
(Transitional Provisions) Act 1997
[F2010L01593] Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010
HR
Income Tax (Transitional Provisions) Act
Summar Specifies how First Home
1997
y Saver Account providers are
Income Tax Assessment Act 1936
required to lodge First Home
Income Tax Assessment Act 1997
Saver Account activity
Superannuation Industry (Supervision)
statements.
Act 1993
Taxation Administration Act 1953
Made 10/06/2010
Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR
Summar Specifies who is to lodge an

y annual return and the due date
for lodgment.
195
National Consumer Credit Protection National Consumer Credit Protection
Amendment Regulations 2010 (No. 3) (Fees) Amendment Regulations (No. 2)
137 138
[F2010L01578] [F2010L01581]
National Consumer Credit Protection Act National Consumer Credit Protection

2009 (Fees) Act 2009
Made 15/06/2010 Made 15/06/2010
Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010 Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR HR

y Regulations to correct y Regulations to provide for the
typographical errors, specify an indexation of fees.
exemption for special purpose
funding entities from licensing
requirements in specified
circumstances, and make other
minor amendments.
196
National Consumer Credit Protection Superannuation Guarantee
(Transitional and Consequential (Administration) Amendment
Provisions) Amendment Regulations Regulations 2010 (No. 1)
2010 (No. 3) Select Legislative Instrument 2010 No.
Select Legislative Instrument 2010 No. 140
139
[F2010L01577]
[F2010L01580]
Superannuation Guarantee
National Consumer Credit Protection (Administration) Act 1992
(Transitional and Consequential
Made 15/06/2010
Provisions) Act 2009
Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010
Made 15/06/2010
HR
Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010
Summar Specify Medicare Australia as
HR
y an approved clearing house
y Regulations to make
corrections in relation to
carried over instruments,
specify an exemption for
special purpose funding entities
from registration requirements
in specified circumstances, and
make other minor amendments.
197
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS
198
Amendment Statement of Principles
under section 196B(3) of the Veterans'
Entitlements Act 1986
Instrument No. 60 of 2010
[F2010L01673]
Military Rehabilitation and

Compensation Act 2004
Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986
Made 18/06/2010
Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR
Summar Amends the Statement of

y Principles concerning fibrosing
interstitial lung disease arising
from operational service
rendered by eligible war
service rendered by veterans,
and defence service rendered
by members of the Forces.
199
[F2010L01672]

Made 18/06/2010
Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

y Principles concerning fibrosing
interstitial lung disease arising
rendered by veterans,
peacekeeping service rendered
by members of Peacekeeping
Forces, or hazardous service
rendered by members of the
Forces.
200
[F2010L01674]

Made 18/06/2010
Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

y Principles concerning vascular
dementia arising from
operational service rendered by
veterans, peacekeeping service
rendered by members of
Peacekeeping Forces, or
hazardous service rendered by
members of the Forces.
201
under subsection 196B(8) of the
Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986
[F2010L01675]

Made 18/06/2010
Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

y Principles concerning vascular
dementia arising from
eligible war service rendered
by veterans, and defence
service rendered by members
of the Forces.
202
Statement of Principles under subsection
196B(2) and (8) of the Veterans'
Instrument No. 47of 2010
[F2010L01660]

Made 18/06/2010
Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR
Summar Provides a new Statement of

y Principles concerning
methaemoglobinaemia arising
Forces, hazardous service
Forces, or warlike or non
warlike service rendered by
members of the Defence Force.
203
[F2010L01662]

Made 18/06/2010
Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

y Principles concerning sinus
barotrauma arising from
veterans, peacekeeping service
rendered by members of
Peacekeeping Forces,
hazardous service rendered by
members of the Forces, or
warlike or non warlike service
Defence Force.
204
[F2010L01664]

Made 18/06/2010
Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

y Principles concerning internal
derangement of the knee
arising from operational
205
196B(2) of the Veterans' Entitlements Act
1986
[F2010L01666]

Made 18/06/2010
Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR
Summar Provides a Statement of

y Principles concerning acute
articular cartilage tear arising
206
1986
[F2010L01668]

Made 18/06/2010
Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

meniscal tear of the knee
arising from operational
207
1986
[F2010L01676]

Made 18/06/2010
Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

Dupuytren‘s disease arising
208
[F2010L01661]

Made 18/06/2010
Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

methaemoglobinaemia arising
from eligible war service
rendered by veterans, defence
of the Forces, and peacetime
of the Defence Force.
209
[F2010L01663]

Made 18/06/2010
Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

y Principles concerning sinus
barotrauma arising from
eligible war service rendered
by veterans, defence service
Forces, and peacetime service
Defence Force.
210
[F2010L01665]

Made 18/06/2010
Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

y Principles concerning internal
derangement of the knee
arising from eligible war
defence service rendered by
members of the Forces, and
peacetime service rendered by
211
1986
[F2010L01667]

Made 18/06/2010
Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

articular cartilage tear arising
212
1986
[F2010L01669]

Made 18/06/2010
Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

meniscal tear of the knee
arising from eligible war
defence service rendered by
members of the Forces, and
peacetime service rendered by
213
1986
[F2010L01671]

Made 18/06/2010
Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

Dupuytren‘s disease arising
214

The Consumer Protection Act

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The Consumer Protection Act

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THE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT, 1986 & RULES, 1987

electricity, housing, entertainment, finance and banking. A well organised sector of

principle of consumer sovereignty almost inapplicable.

The advertisements of goods and services in television, newspapers and magazines

STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS

price of goods to protect the consumer against unfair trade practices;

(c) The right to be assured, wherever possible, access to an authority of goods at

consideration at appropriate forums;

(f) right to consumer education.

Council to be established at the Central and State level.

4. To provide speedy and simple redressed to consumer disputes, a quasi-judicial

give relief of a specific nature and to award, wherever appropriate, compensation to

have also been provided.

5. The Bill seeks to achieve the above objects.

Book as the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (68 of 1986).

LIST OF AMENDING ACTS

1. The Consumer Protection (Amendment) Act, 1991 (34 of 1991).

2. The Consumer Protection (Amendment) Act, 1993 (50 of 1993).

3. The Consumer Protection (Amendment) Act, 2002 (62 of 2002).

THE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT, 1986

[24th December, 198"6)

the settlement of consumers' disputes and for matters connected therewith.

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Thirty-seventh Year of the Republic of India as

Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

provisions of this Act.

Act shall apply to all goods and services.

2. Definitions.--(I) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-

2[(a)"appropriate laboratory" means a laboratory or organisation-

(i) Recognised by the Central Government;

(ii) Recognised by a State Government, subject to such guidelines as may be prescribed

by the Central Government in this behalf; or

being in force, which is maintained, financed or aided by the Central Government or a

determining whether such goods suffer from any defect; ]

3[(aa) "branch office" means-

(i) Any establishment described as a branch by the opposite party; or

that carried on by the head office of the establishment;]

2. .Subs. by Act 50 of 1993, sec. 2 (w.e.f. 18-6-1993).

3. .Ins. by Act 50 of 1993, sec. 2 (w.e.f. 18-6-1993).

(b) "Complainant" means-

(iii) The Central Government or any State Government;

(c) "Complaint" means any allegation in writing made by a complainant that-

from deficiency in any respect;

the services mentioned in the complaint, a price in excess of the price-

(b) Displayed on the goods or any package containing such goods;

(d) Agreed between the parties;)

sale to the public-

(a) In contravention of any standard relating to safety of such goods as required to be

relief provided by or under this Act;

(d) "Consumer" means any person who-

goods for resale or for any commercial purpose; or

any system of deferred payment,

1. Ins.byAct50ofI993, sec.2 (w.e.f.18-6-1993).

2. Subs. by Act 50 of 1993, sec. 2 (w.e.f. 18-6-1993).

3. Ins. by Act 50 of 1993, sec. 2 (w.e.f. 18-6-1993). ,,!

4. Subs. by Act 50 of 1993, sec. 2 (w.e.f. 18-6-1993). ~. S

earning his livelihood, by means of self-employment;]

been made, denies or disputes the allegations contained in the complaint;

trader in any manner whatsoever in relation to any goods;

nature and manner of performance which is required to be maintained by or under any

pursuance of a contract or otherwise in relation to any service;

clause (a) of section 9;

(j) "Manufacturer" means a person who--