CHAPTER-5-CONSUMER AWARENESS

Who is Consumer?

Consumer is anyone who purchases goods and services for his use. These goods
are final goods.

(Final Goods refers to those goods which are ready for consumption.)

CONSUMER AWARENESS

Along with New Economic Policy (Liberalisation, Privatisation, Globalisation) the

entire economic scenario is undergoing a significant change from Government
driven economy to market driven economy. Protecting the interest of consumers
has therefore become one of the major concerns than ever before. It is very
important today to prevent exploitation of consumer by traders and producers.

CONSUMER EXPLOITATION

Consumers are being exploited in various ways-

1.) Adulteration and deception- Major one among all consumer exploitation
issues is adulteration and deception. Adulteration refers to mixing of some
inferior quality goods with normal standard good. This causes monetary loss
to consumers.
2.) Selling substandard, unsafe and low quality goods
3.) False information regarding weights and measures.
4.) Charging abnormal high prices.
5.) Selling Duplicate articles.
6.) Hoarding and Black marketing.

CONSUMER RIGHTS (VERY IMPORTANT)

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1) Right to Safety
2) Right to be Informed
3) Right to choose
4) Right to seek Redressal
5) Right to represent

(For definitions refer to text book.)

DUTIES OF CONSUMERS

1) Consumer should purchase quality marked products such as ISI, AGMARK

and HALLMARK etc.
2) Consumers should ask for cash memo/receipt for the items purchased.
3) Consumers must be careful about false and misleading advertisements.
4) Consumers should acquire knowledge of their rights and must exercise them.
5) Consumers must file a complaint in case of any exploitation done to him by
any service provider.

CONSUMER MOVEMENT

Aware and alert consumers, when exploited or dissatisfied, results in consumer

movement. In India, the consumer movement as a social force originated with
the necessity of protecting and promoting the interest of consumers against
unethical and unfair trade practices.

A major step taken in 1986 by the Ministry of Civil Supplies & Consumer
Affairs on behalf of Indian Government was enactment of CONSUMER
PROTECTION ACT 1986, (COPRA)

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CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT

India’s Copra is simple, flexible & compensatory act. It gives speedy redressal
of consumer grievances within 90 days. A Three -tier quasi judicial machinery
at district, state and national level was set up for consumer disputes. The act
applies to all goods and services, all sectors whether public or private.

WORKING OF COPRA FOR CONSUMER REDRESSAL

The Three –tier system of COPRA enables it to work more efficiently. The
district level court deals with cases involving claims up to Rs.20 lakhs, the
state level courts between Rs.20 lakhs and Rs.1 crore and the national level
court deals with cases involving claims exceeding Rs.1 crore. If the case is
dismissed in district level court, the consumer can also appeal in state and
then national level courts.

STANDARDISATION OF PRODUCT

Standardization is a technical measure to prevent degraded quality and

promote uniformity in products. In India, the task of developing quality
standard for products has been assigned to various organizations such as ISI,
ISO, BIS, AGMARK, HALLMARK and MHRA.
For essential products such as LPG cylinders, fooding items it is compulsory
to get certified by these organizations.

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ISI (Indian Standard Institution) works for consumer durable goods
(industrial products, material, services etc)
ISO (International Organization for Standardization) works at international
level.
BIS (Bureau of Indian Standard) works for industrial products (initially
known as ISI)
AGMARK for agricultural products
HALLMARK works for jewelry items.
MHRA works for herbal medicines.