THE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT

1

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

2

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.

3

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)

4

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

5

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).

3

(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;]

6

(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

7

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;]

8

(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;

9

(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 ;)

10

(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;

11

(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

12

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

13

(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.]

14

(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

15

(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.

16

(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;

17

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.

18

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

19

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.)

20

(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 –

21

(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.)

22

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

23

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.

24

(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.

25

(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

26

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

27

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.]

28

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;

29

(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

30

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.

31

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

32

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.

33

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;

34

(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.

35

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).

36

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

37

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:

38

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.]

39

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:

40


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.]

41

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.)

42

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.

43

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

44

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

45

(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.

46

(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

47

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).

48

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

49

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.)

50

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

51

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.

52

(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

53

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:

54

(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.

55

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

56

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

57

(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

58

(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

59

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;

60

(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:-]

61

(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

62

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.

63

(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.

64

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;

65

(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].

66

(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).

67

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

68

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).

69

(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.

70

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

71

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

72

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).

73

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.

74

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.‖

75

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.

76

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

77

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

78

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

79

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;

80

� 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;

81

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.

82

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,

83

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‖.

84

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

85

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.

86

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

87

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

Country Current Status Major developments and motivations

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

Protection of Economic Competition,

2000.

No further data.

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

88

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

89

through a competition lens.

Azerbaijan Law of the Azerbaijan Republic about

Antimonopoly Activity, Law No. 526 of

April 1993, amended Oct 1997

Law on Natural Monopolies

Law on Dishonest Competition, 1995

No further data.

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

90

launched in Dhaka on September

22/23, 2004.

Bhutan Draft hybrid competition and consumer

protection law under consideration

The Ministry of Trade and

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.

91

Brunei

Darussalam

No competition law in force till date. While there is no specific

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

law in the sense of a comprehensive legal

code. However, China‘s current laws and

As part of the country‘s market-

oriented reform programme, China has

been working on a draft competition

92

regulations contain a series of anti-

monopoly provisions:

- Regulation on Anti-dumping and

Anti-subsidy of the People‘s Republic

of China

- Law of the People‘s Republic of

China for Countering Unfair

Competition, 1993

- Price Law of the People‘s

Republic of China 1997 and Law of

the People‘s Republic of China for

Inviting and Submitting Tender 1999

- Other sectoral regulatory laws

such as the Regulations Against

Unfair Competition Acts in the Civil

Air Transportation Market

(promulgated by the General

Administration of China Order No. 47

on Feb 1996); the Interim Provisions

on Mergers and Divisions of Foreign-

Invested Enterprises 2001, the Interim

Provisions on Restructuring State-

owned Enterprises By Utilising

Foreign Investment 2002, etc

law since early 1990s. It is a part of the

overall strategy of the Government to

bring in internal reforms through

external policy lock-in.

In 1994, Chinese officials

announced their intention to

supplement the Law for Countering

Unfair Competition by promulgating an

Anti-Monopoly Law. Although revised

many times during the past decade, the

draft law has not yet been legislated.

There is some resistance to enacting a

general competition law. One view is

that China is still at the very early stage

of economic development and

enterprises are generally small in size

and thus there is no need to have an

anti-monopoly law. Besides, some are

concerned that an anti-monopoly law

may adversely affect the State-owned

enterprises in terms of price setting,

restructuring, and so on.

93

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

Control of Concentrations between

Undertakings Law 1989.

No further data, and perhaps

Cyprus though being in the Asia

Pacific region geographically, is closer

to Europe.

Fiji Commerce Act 1998

Fair Trading Decree 1992

Consumer Credit Act 1999.

Data awaited

Hong Kong No competition law yet in force. At

present, the only competition laws similar

to those found in other jurisdictions are

the prohibitions against anti-competitive

conduct found in the

Telecommunications Ordinance, and

those in the Broadcasting Ordinance.

These are administered by industry

specific regulatory licensing authorities.

Section 7K of the

In November 1996, as part of its

information dissemination and advisory

function, the

Consumer Council of Hong Kong

issued a report entitled 'Competition

Policy - the Key to Hong Kong's

Future Success', which summarised a

number of competition studies the

Council had previously undertaken into

various sectors, and outlined its vision

94

Telecommunications Ordinance, entitled

―Anti-competitive practices‖, for

example, provides that a licensee shall

not engage in conduct which, in the

opinion of the Telecommunications

Authority (TA), has the purpose or effect

of preventing or substantially restricting

competition in a telecommunications

market.

However, in its latest Trade Policy

Review report on Hong Kong, the World

Trade Organisation has criticised the

government‘s approach of allowing the

TA to perform a dual role of the

traditional regulator and enforcer of

competition policy on the grounds that it

could compromise the TA‘s impartiality.

for a general competition law,

administered by a general competition

authority.

The Government issued a

publication in May 1998 known as the

Statement on Competition Policy in

response. In this Statement the

Government made it clear it does not

consider that a general competition law

is necessary or appropriate for Hong

Kong. Instead it opted for what it

termed a 'sector specific approach

reinforced by self regulatory

mechanisms and administrative

measures to be taken by appropriate

Government bureaus and departments

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

95

concerning competition, and

submissions from the Consumer

Council.

India Competition Act, 2002, in replacement of

the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade

Practices Act 1969

This Law is a completely new

legislation, to replace the old MRTP

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

96

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

Monopolistic Practices and Unfair

Business Competition (effective from 5

March 2000)

In Indonesia, since the country

started to undertake various

liberalisation and deregulation

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

97

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

98

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

99

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-

1988

Not being dealt with here.

Japan Act Concerning Prohibition Of Private

Monopolisation And Maintenance of Fair

Trade 1947, more widely known as the

1947 Anti-Monopoly Act (AMA).

Following the 2nd world war,

under US pressure, Japan enacted the

competition law. Unfortunately, the

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

100

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

Law, Law No. 15 for the year 2000,

Official Gazette No.4423 dated 2.4.2000

Law of Unethical Competition and

Jordan has faced several

impediments in developing a

competition law and authority – In

1996 and 1998 attempts were made to

101

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

102

competition.

Korea Price Stabilisation Act (1973)

Price Stability and Fair Trade Act

(Enacted in 1975, took effect on Mar. 15,

1976)

Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act

(MRFTA: enacted on Dec. 31, 1980, took

effect on April 1, 1981). The MRFTA

underwent 7 revisions in 1986, 1990,

1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001 and

2002.

Fair Subcontract Transactions Act

1984 and the Adhesion Contract

Regulations Act 1986 (protecting

subcontractors and consumers at the

competition policy level)

Fair Labelling and Advertising Act

(FLAA) 1999

Omnibus Cartel Repeal Act (the Act

on Regulating Undue Concerted

Activities Exempt from the Application

of the Monopoly Regulation and Fair

Trade Act) 1999 (repealing or improving

In Korea, when the government tried

to introduce a competition law in the

1970s, many doubted the need for one.

There were many who believed that

Korea needed national champions to

develop its relatively small market by

competing in overseas market.

Consequently, the establishment of

competition law had been delayed. The

delay in adoption of competition law in

part was the reason for high

concentration in the Korean market

(chaebols). The ill effects of market

distortion became more profound.

With the outbreak of the Asian

financial crisis in late 1997, and the

business scandals exposed in the

economy, a broad national consensus

was reached that the economy should

be essentially driven by principles of

market competition. In this climate, the

Korean government took bold steps to

103

cartels permitted under individual

statutes)

Door-to-Door Sales, etc. Act and

Instalment Transaction Act, transferred

from the Ministry of Commerce, Industry

and Energy to being under the authority

of the Korean Fair Trade Commission

(KFTC) in 1999 so that the latter has the

power to protect consumers in special

types of transactions.

Consumer Protection in Electronic

Commerce, etc. Act 2002

Fair Franchise Transactions Act 2002

eliminate the old structural

inefficiencies of the Korean economy

and strong enforcement of the

competition law was considered as one

of the most important means of

restructuring the Korean economy on

the foundation of a market economy.

For the past five years after the

financial crisis, regulatory reforms

driven by strong advocacy role of

Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC)

has contributed to the creation of a

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

104

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

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

No further data

Kuwait No competition law

Lao PDR Fair Trade Competition Decree (effective

from August 2004)

The legislation was passed

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

105

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

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

No further data

106

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

Competition, however, currently there

In 1993, the Ministry of

Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs

107

exist about 30 laws which regulate certain

activities of enterprises and which protect

consumer interests. Under these laws a

consumer or trader may seek redress

through the appropriate Ministry, public

agency or via the Civil Courts. These

laws include the Companies Act 1965,

the Control of Supplies Act 1961, the

Trade Descriptions Act 1972, the Food

Act 1983, the Hire Purchase Act 1967,

the Weights and measures Act 1972, the

Direct Sales Act 1993, etc. A Consumer

Protection Bill is also due to be tabled in

Parliament very soon.

(MDTCA) announced its intention to

draft a ―Fair Trade Practices Bill‖.

This did not materialise. Indeed, in the

Eighth Malaysia Plan 2001-2005

(8MP), the most recent of the country‘s

plan documents, there is an explicit

statement accepting the need to

encourage competition. The Malaysian

government has reiterated its support

for a domestic competition policy and

law in a statement issued subsequent to

the National Workshop on Competition

Policy and Law, organised by the

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

108

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

Monopolistic Activities and Development

of Competition 1992

Law on antidumping, compensatory

and protection measures 2000

Law on Protection of Competition

2000

No further data

Mongolia Law on Prohibiting Unfair

Competition, 1994

Consumer Protection Law 1991

No further data.

Myanmar No competition law in force till date Though the Myanmar

government recognised the role of a

109

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

directive principles aims at reducing

economic concentration (Article 25.2)

Black Marketing and Certain Other

Offences

(Prevention and Control) Act

Consumer Protection Act, 1997

Statement by local civil society

organisations: ―If it had not been for

the commitment under the WTO

accession, competition policy and law

might never have seen the light of the

day‖.

110

- guarantees consumers‘ rights to

choose (Section 6.1.C)

- 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

The CUTS 7Up2 project is

addressing the progress.

New

Zealand

Commerce Act 1986 (Amended in

2001)

Telecommunications Act 2001

Telecommunications Amendment Act

2001

Electricity Industry Reform Act 1998

Electricity Industry Reform

Amendment Act 2001

Fair Trading Act 1986 and various

amendments

The relationship with Australia

is New Zealand‘s most significant

bilateral link, which has been

remarkably affecting the development

direction of New Zealand competition

law. This is underpinned by

geographical proximity, historical

linkages, shared outlook, similar social

structures and an extensive overlap in

economic and security interests. Key

agreements in place include:

The Australia- New Zealand

Closer Economic Relations

111

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

Practices Ordinance (1971).

In view of the constraints

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

112

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

Guinea

Independent Consumer & Competition

Act 2002

Whilst attempts have been made

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

113

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

114

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

law or specific institution in the

Philippines to enforce the law.

Section 19 of Article XII of the 1987

There is general agreement in

the Philippines that the existing laws

have been inadequate in promoting a

strong competitive market. However,

115

Constitution prohibits monopolies and

combinations in restraint or trade

Republic Act 3247 (An Act to

Prohibit Monopolies and Combinations in

Restraint of Trade) (1961) as amended,

read along with the Revised Penal Code,

as amended by Republic Act. No. 1956,

prohibit unfair trade practices,

monopolies and combinations in restraint

of trade.

Price Act 1992

Consumer Act 1992

there has been no clamour for the

immediate enactment of a

comprehensive competition law. Two

major bills on competition are pending

in Congress but they are not considered

high priority, due to a multitude of

reasons, such as a business culture of

believing in the necessity of

reciprocity, corruption and cronyism,

lack of political will. (Certain

influential members of Congress are

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

116

Federation Monopolistic Activities 1991 Russia is mainly a part of Europe.

Saudi

Arabia

No competition law

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

117

1987

- Fair Trading Commission Act No. 57 of

1993

- Consumer Protection Act 1979

- Control of Prices Act

All these laws have recently been

repealed by the Consumer Affairs

Authority Act (CAAA) introduced in

2003

Commission Act (FTCA) had been

considered a weak legislation, both in

terms of textual contents and

enforcement reality, the CAAA was

thus expected to provide a way out for

Sri Lanka, providing a ―corrective

measure after tremendous suffering that

consumers went through recently due

to monopolies‖. However, the new law

had been diluted even before it was

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

Republic

No specific competition law.

Everything relating to monopoly,

consumer protection rights, etc is

Studies are underway with the

help of the European Commission to

implement new regulations and special

118

governed by the General Trade Law.

Syrian Penal Code, Articles 671-674

cover "Unlawful Speculations", and

Article 700 covers "Fraudulent

Competition"

laws pertaining to this subject.

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

119

economy and enhancing the fairness

and transparency of the FTC' s

enforcement work.

Tajikistan Law on Competition and Restriction

to Monopoly Activities in Goods Market

2000

Law on Natural Monopolies 1997

No further data

Thailand Trade Competition Act, 1999, in

replacement of the Price Control and

Anti-Monopoly Act B.E. 2522 (AD 1979)

The ―Price Fixing and Anti-

monopoly Act‖, enacted in 1979, is

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

120

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

121

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

Emirates

No competition law

Uzbekistan Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan

On Competition and Restriction of

Monopolistic Activity in the Commodity

The new Draft Law "On

Competition" that will substitute the

current Law "On Competition and

122

Markets

Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan

On Natural Monopolies


On Advertising


On Protection of Consumer's Right

Regulation of Mergers and

Acquisitions

Restriction of Monopolistic Activity in

the Commodity Markets" is in the

process of development and approval

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

123

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.

124

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,

125

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

126

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, etc1.

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

127

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

128

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.

129

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 segments2. 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

130

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]

131

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

132

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

133

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

134

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

135

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.

136

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

137

�

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

138

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%

139

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.

140

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

141

- 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

142

(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.

143

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

144

- 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

145

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

146

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

147

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

148

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

149

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.

150

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

151

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.

152

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

153

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).

154

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).

155

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

156

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

157

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FORESTRY

Fisheries Management (Southern Squid

Jig Fishery Management Plan 2005)

Temporary Order 2010 under

subsection 43(2) of the Fisheries

Management Act 1991

[F2010L01722]

Fisheries Management Act 1991

Made 18/06/2010

Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Amends the principal Order to

replace references to

‗SquidMAC‘ (being the Squid

Management Advisory

Committee) with reference to

SEMAC (being the South East

Management Advisory

Committee).

Fisheries Research and Development

Corporation Amendment Regulations

2010 (No. 1)

Select Legislative Instrument 2010 No.

126

[F2010L01584]

Primary Industries and Energy Research

and Development Act 1989

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Amend the principal

Regulations to specify the

proportion of annual fishing

levies that are to be directed to

the Fisheries Research and

Development Corporation in

the 2009-10 financial year.

158

DEPARTMENT OF BROADBAND, COMMUNICATIONS AND THE DIGITAL

ECONOMY

Do Not Call Register (Access to

Register) Amendment Determination

2010 (No. 2) under subsection 20(1) of

the Do Not Call Register Act 2006

[F2010L01633]

Do Not Call Register Act 2006

Made 10/06/2010

Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Corrects a drafting error in the

principal Determination.

Do Not Call Register (Administration

and Operation) Amendment

Determination 2010 (No. 2) under

subsection 18(1) of the Do not Call

Register Act 2006

[F2010L01632]

Do Not Call Register Act 2006

Made 10/06/2010

Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Corrects drafting errors in the

principal Determination.

159

Radiocommunications (Interpretation)

Amendment Determination 2010 (No. 2)

under subsection 64(1) of the Australian

Communications and Media Authority

Act 2005

[F2010L01707]

Australian Communications and Media

Authority Act 2005

Made 17/06/2010

Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Amends the principal

Determination to insert a

definition of a new public

telecommunications service

apparatus licence type.

Radiocommunications (Transmitter

Licence Tax) Amendment


subsection 7(1) of the


Licence Tax) Act 1983

[F2010L01706]


Licence Tax) Act 1983

Made 17/06/2010

Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

Summar

y


Determination to provide for a

new public telecommunications

service apparatus licence type.

160

Television Licence Fees Amendment

Regulations 2010 (No. 1)


141

[F2010L01591]

Television Licence Fees Act 1964

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Amend the principal

Regulations to specify a rebate

scheme for eligible television

broadcasting licensees.

161

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

Summar

y

Amend the principal

Regulations concerning safety

and quality compliance

requirements for certain small

generation units.

162

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE

Defence Determination 2010/23

Defence Act 1903

Made 2/06/2010

Tabled 21/06/2010 S 17/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Amends the list of approved

summer schools for Japan, and

amends the list of approved

club memberships for members

of the Australian Defence

Force on long-term postings

overseas.


Defence Act 1903

Made 2/06/2010

Tabled 21/06/2010 S 17/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Amends rates of financial

assistance for cost incurred by

members of the Australian

Defence Force on posting in

connection with their

children‘s education.

163


Defence Act 1903

Made 8/06/2010

Tabled 21/06/2010 S 17/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Specifies revised post indexes

that apply to overseas locations

where members of the

Australian Defence Force

serve.


Defence Act 1903

Made 10/06/2010

Tabled 21/06/2010 S 17/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Amends subsidies paid in the

Group Rent Scheme, amends

accommodation allowances,

and makes other amendments

to the principal Determination.

164

DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT, WATER, HERITAGE AND THE

ARTS

Amendment — List of Specimens taken

to be Suitable for Live Import —

s.303EB under paragraph 303EC(1)(a)

of the Environment Protection and

Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

EPBC/s.303EC/SSLI/Amend/034

[F2010L01574]

Environment Protection and Biodiversity

Conservation Act 1999

Made 3/06/2010

Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Adds two species of dung

beetle to the list of specimens

that are suitable for live import.

Amendment — List of Specimens taken

to be Suitable for Live Import —

s.303EB under paragraph 303EC(1)(a)

of the Environment Protection and

Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999

EPBC/s.303EC/SSLI/Amend/036

[F2010L01572]

Environment Protection and Biodiversity

Conservation Act 1999

Made 16/03/2010

Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Removes one species of deer

from the list of specimens that

are suitable for live import.

165

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND AGEING

Aged Care (Amount of Flexible Care

Subsidy — Extended Aged Care at

Home — Dementia) Determination 2010

(No. 1) under section 52-1 of the Aged

Care Act 1997

[F2010L01530]

Aged Care Act 1997

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Specifies the method for

determining the amount of

flexible care subsidy payable in

certain circumstances involving

dementia.


Subsidy — Extended Aged Care at

Home) Determination 2010 (No. 1)

under section 52-1 of the Aged Care Act

1997

[F2010L01529]

Aged Care Act 1997

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

Summar

y



flexible care subsidy payable in

certain circumstances.

166


Subsidy — Innovative Care Service —

Congress Community Development and

Education Unit Ltd) Determination 2010

(No. 1) under section 52-1 of the Aged

Care Act 1997

[F2010L01532]

Aged Care Act 1997

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Extends the provision of

flexible care subsidy for places

allocated to a named approved

provider until July 2011.


Subsidy — Innovative Care Services)


section 52-1 of the Aged Care Act 1997

[F2010L01650]

Aged Care Act 1997

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Specifies the amount of

flexible care subsidy for a day

care recipient.

167


Subsidy — Multi-Purpose Services)



[F2010L01531]

Aged Care Act 1997

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

Summar

y


determining the rate of flexible

care subsidy payable to multi-

purpose services from 1 July

2010.


Subsidy — Transition Care Services)



[F2010L01535]

Aged Care Act 1997

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

Summar

y


flexible care subsidy from 1

July 2010 that is payable for

flexible care in the form of

transition care under certain

circumstances.

168

Aged Care (Community Care Subsidy

Amount) Determination 2010 (No. 1)

under subsection 48-1(3) of the Aged

Care Act 1997

[F2010L01528]

Aged Care Act 1997

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

Summar

y



community care subsidy from 1

July 2010.

Aged Care (Residential Care Subsidy —

Adjusted Subsidy Reduction)



[F2010L01295]

Aged Care Act 1997

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Specifies the adjusted subsidy

reduction amount from 1 July

2010.

169


Amount of Enteral Feeding Supplement)


subsection 44-14(6) of the Aged Care Act

1997

[F2010L01293]

Aged Care Act 1997

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Determines the amount of the

enteral feeding supplement

from 1 July 2010.


Amount of Oxygen Supplement)



1997

[F2010L01294]

Aged Care Act 1997

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2020

HR

Summar

y

Determines the amount of the

oxygen supplement from 1 July

2010.

170


Amount of Viability Supplement)

Amount of Viability Supplement)



1997

[F2010L01512]

Aged Care Act 1997

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

Summar

y


viability supplement that is

payable to eligible services.


Basic Subsidy Amount) Determination

2010 (No. 1) under subsection 44-3(2) of

the Aged Care Act 1997

[F2010L01480]

Aged Care Act 1997

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Specifies the indexed rates of

basic subsidy that apply from 1

July 2010.

171

Flexible Care Subsidy Amendment

Principles 2010 (No. 1) under subsection

96-1(1) of the Aged Care Act 1997

[F2010L01652]

Aged Care Act 1997

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Amend the principal Principles

to apply them to consumer

directed care, and make minor

technical amendment.

Health Insurance (General Medical

Services Table) Amendment Regulations

2010 (No. 4)


127

[F2010L01284]

Health Insurance Act 1973

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Remove a redundant provision

from the principal Regulations.

172

Health Insurance (Leukoscan)

Determination 2010 under subsection

3C(1) of the Health Insurance Act 1973

[F2010L01653]


Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Revokes the Health Insurance

(LeukoScan) Determination

2006.

Health Insurance (Positron Emission

Tomography) Facilities Determination

2010 under subsection 3C(1) of the


[F2010L01605]


Made 10/06/2010

Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Revokes and replaces the

previous Determination

concerning eligibility of

Medicare benefits for positron

emission tomography services.

173

Hearing Services (Participants in the

Voucher System) Amendment


subsection 13(1) of the Hearing Services

Administration Act 1997

[F2010L01642]

Hearing Services Administration Act 1997

Made 2/06/2010

Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

Summar

y


Determination to implement

the minimum hearing loss

threshold.

Instrument No. PB 054 of 2010 made

under subsections 85(2), 85(2A) and

85(2AA) of the National Health Act 1953

[F2010L01623]

National Health Act 1953

Made 3/06/2010

Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Specifies revisions to the list of

drugs and medicinal

preparations that are available

as pharmaceutical benefits.

174

Instrument No. PB 055 of 2010 under

sections 85, 85A and 88 of the National

Health Act 1953

[F2010L01637]


Made 3/06/2010

Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Specifies revisions to the list of

drugs and medicinal

preparations that are available

as pharmaceutical benefits.

Instrument No. PB 056 of 2010 made

under section 84AF of the National

Health Act 1953

[F2010L01631]


Made 3/06/2010

Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Determines, for specified

brands of pharmaceutical

items, the responsible persons

for those brands.

175


section 85B of the National Health Act

1953

[F2010L01635]


Made 3/06/2010

Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010

HR

Summar

y


Determination concerning price

determinations for

pharmaceutical items.


paragraph 98C(1)(b) of the National

Health Act 1953

[F2010L01622]


Made 3/06/2010

Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Specifies conditions under

which payments will be made

in respect of the supply of

pharmaceutical benefits by

approved pharmacists and

approved medical practitioners.

176


subsection 100(1) of the National Health

Act 1953

[F2010L01644]


Made 7/06/2010

Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Amends the arrangements for

the availability of special

pharmaceutical products under

the Chemotherapy

Pharmaceuticals Access

Program.


subsection 84AAA(2) of the National

Health Act 2053

[F2010L01639]


Made 3/06/2010

Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Amends the list of

pharmaceutical items for the

purposes of provisions in the

Act dealing with early supply

of pharmaceutical benefits.

177


subsection 100(1) of the National Health

Act 1953

[F2010l01537]


Made 9/06/2010

Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Specifies an increase in the

handling fee for pharmacists

under the Remote Aboriginal

Health Services Program.


subparagraph 100(1)(b)(ii) of the


[F2010L01724]


Made 21/06/2010

Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Specifies arrangements to

assist eligible Aboriginal and

Torres Strait Islander patients

to access PBS medicines with

reduced patient co-payments.

178

National Health Security Amendment



128

[F2010L01071]

National Health Security Act 2007

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Amend the principal

Regulations to provide for the

addition of further exempt

entities and make other minor

amendments.

Private Health Insurance (Benefit

Requirements) Amendment Rules 2010

(No. 3) under item 3A of the table in

section 333-20 of the Private Health

Insurance Act 2007

[F2010L01646]

Private Health Insurance Act 2007

Made 11/06/2010

Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Revoke and remake Rules

which specify the minimum

benefit requirements for

psychiatric, rehabilitation and

palliative care and other

hospital treatment.

179

Private Health Insurance (Complying

Product) Amendment Rules 2010 (No. 2)

under item 3 of the table in section 333-

20 of the Private Health Insurance Act

2007

[F2010L01647]


Made 11/06/2010

Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Amend the amounts for the

NHTP patient contribution at

public hospitals in the

Australian Capital Territory

and the Northern Territory.

Private Health Insurance (Data

Provision) Rules 2010 under item 9 of

the table in section 333-20 of the Private


[F2010L01753]


Made 22/06/2010

Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

Summar

y


which specify the kinds of

information relating to

treatment of insured persons

that private health insurers

must provide to the Secretary

of the Department of Health

and Ageing.

180

Private Health Insurance (Health

Insurance Business) Rules 2010 under

item 6 of the table in section 333-20 of

the Private Health Insurance Act 2007

[F2010L01740]


Made 22/06/2010

Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

Summar

y


which specify the statistical

information that must be

provided by hospitals to

insurers and by private

hospitals to the Department of

Health and Ageing, and

provide for other matters

relating to the declaration of

facilities as hospitals.

Quality of Care Amendment Principles

2010 (No. 1) under subsection 96-1(1) of

the Aged Care Act 1997

[F2010L01651]

Aged Care Act 1997

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

Summar

y


to replace the annual fire safety

declaration requirement with a

requirement for notification of

non-compliance with State or

Territory laws.

181

Residential Care Subsidy Amendment

Principles 2010 (No. 1) under subsection

96-1 of the Aged Care Act 1997

[F2010L01655]

Aged Care Act 1997

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

Summar

y


to remove certain reporting

requirements concerning the

Conditional Adjustment

Payment.

Therapeutic Goods Amendment



129

[F2010L01285]

Therapeutic Goods Act 1989

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Amend the principal

Regulations to specify new

scheduling arrangements for

medicines and chemicals.

182

Therapeutic Goods Amendment



130

[F2010L01282]


Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Amend the principal

Regulations to specify

increases in certain fees.

Therapeutic Goods (Charges)



131

[F2010L01283]

Therapeutic Goods (Charges) Act 1989

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Amend the principal


increases in certain charges.

183

Therapeutic Goods (Medical Devices)



132

[F2010L01281]


Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Amend the principal


increases in certain fees.

184

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

y

Amend provisions in the

principal Regulations

concerning the definition of

―skilled occupation‖, and make

various other amendments to

those Regulations.

185

DEPARTMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL

DEVELOPMENT AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Civil Aviation Orders, Part 39.001(1)

Airworthiness Directive AD/B727/74

Amdt 1

[F2010L01607]

Civil Aviation Act 1988

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Varies the technical

requirements for a particular

type of aircraft.


Airworthiness Directive AD/BEECH

65/64 Amdt 1

[F2010L01658]


Made 16/06/2010

Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010

HR

Summar

y


requirements for particular type

of aircraft.

186


Airworthiness Directive AD/F50/102

[F2010L01613]


Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010

HR

Summar

y


requirements for particular type

of aircraft.


Airworthiness Directive AD/F100/97

[F2010L01594]


Made 10/06/2010

Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR

Summar

y


requirements for a particular

type of aircraft.

Exemption No. CASA EX45/10 under

regulation 11.160 of the Civil Aviation

Safety Regulations 1998

[F2010L01478]


Made 10/06/2010

Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Exempts a named operator

from requirements concerning

export certificate of

airworthiness.

187

Exemption No. CASA EX52/10 under

subregulation 308(1) of the Civil Aviation

Regulations 1988

[F2010L01634]


Made 18/06/2010

Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Specifies exemptions for the

owners, operators and pilots of

Class A aircraft regarding time-

in-service recording

requirements.

Instrument No. CASA 205/10 under

subregulation 179A(1) of the Civil

Aviation Regulations 1988

[F2010L01566]


Made 16/06/2010

Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Permits the use of P-RNAV

procedures on a specified

aircraft operated by a named

operator.

188

Instrument No. CASA 210/10 under

subregulation 179A(1) of the Civil

Aviation Regulations 1988

[F2010L01582]


Made 10/06/2010

Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Permits the use of RNAV

(RNP-AR) approaches and

departures on certain aircraft

operated by Qantas Airlines

Ltd.

Instrument No. CASA ADCX 014/10

under subregulation 39.001(1) of the

Civil Aviation Safety Regulations 1998

[F2010L01670]


Made 17/06/2010

Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

The Airworthiness Directives

were revoked as follows:

AD/JT3D/2 on 30 June 2010

AD/CFM56/29 on 13 July

2010

AD/DAUPHIN/73 on 18 June

2010.

189

DEPARTMENT OF INNOVATION, INDUSTRY, SCIENCE AND RESEARCH

Independent Contractors Amendment



134

[F2010L01586]

Independent Contractors Act 2006

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Amend the principal

Regulations to prescribe new

laws under paragraph 7(2)(c) of

the Independent Contractors

Act 2006.

190

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

A New Tax System (Goods and Services

Tax) (Exempt Taxes, Fees and Charges)


section 81-5 of the A New Tax System

(Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999

[F2010L01559]


Tax) Act 1999

Made 7/06/2010

Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Specifies those taxes, fees and

charges that are excluded from

the scope of the goods and

services tax base.


Tax) Third Party Adjustment Note

Information Requirements

Determination (No. 1) 2010 under

paragraph 134-20(1)(d) of the A New

Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act

1999

[F2010L01588]


Tax) Act 1999

Made 9/06/2010

Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Specifies information that must

be supplied by taxpayers in a

third party adjustment note.

191

ASIC Class Order [CO 10/464]

[F2010L01687]

Corporations Act 2001

Made 17/06/2010

Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Amends the definition of ―short

position‖ in the Corporations

Regulations 2001 as modified

by ASIC Class Order [CO

10/29].

Australian Prudential Regulation

Authority (confidentiality)

determination No. 13 of 2010 under

section 57 of the Australian Prudential

Regulation Authority Act 1998

[F2010L01774]


Authority Act 1998

Made 23/06/2010

Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Provides that information

provided to APRA by locally-

incorporated banks and foreign

authorised deposit taking

institutions under Reporting

Standard ARS 320.0 is non-

confidential.

192


Authority instrument fixing charges No.

2 of 2010 under paragraph 51(1)(a) of

the Australian Prudential Regulation

Authority Act 1998

[F2010L01576]


Authority Act 1998

Made 4/06/2010

Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Specifies certain charges for

services provided by the

Australian Prudential

Regulation Authority to the

Reserve Bank of Australia and

the Australian Bureau of

Statistics.


Authority instrument fixing charges No.

3 of 2010 under subsection 51(1) of the


Authority Act 1998

[F2010L01709]


Authority Act 1998

Made 21/06/2010

Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Specifies certain charges for

services provided by the

Australian Prudential

Regulation Authority relating

to the supervision of banks.

193

Corporations Amendment Regulations

2010 (No. 5)


135

[F2010L01585]

Corporations Act 1989

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Amend the principal

Regulations to prescribe

matters relating to Product

Disclosure Statements for

managed investment schemes,

margin loans, and

superannuation interests.

Income Tax Amendment Regulations

2010 (No. 2)


136

[F2010L01575]

Income Tax Assessment Act 1936

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Amend the principal

Regulations regarding

arrangements for overseas

defence service and amend the

formula used to calculate the

rebate threshold for the senior

Australians tax offset.

194

Life Insurance (prudential standard)

determination No. 01 of 2010 under

subsection 230A(5) of the Life Insurance

Act 1995

[F2010L00619]

Life Insurance Act 1995

Made 2/03/2010

Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Revokes and replaces the

Prudential Standard LPS 310

Audit and Related Matters

which applies to all life

companies including friendly

societies and registered non-

operating holding companies.

Lodgment of income tax returns for the

year of income ended 30 June 2010 in

accordance with the Income Tax

Assessment Act 1936 and the Taxation

Administration Act 1953 — Child

Support Agency — parents with a child

support assessment

[F2010L01595]


Taxation Administration Act 1953

Made 10/06/2010

Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Requires liable and recipient

parents under a child support

assessment to lodge an annual

income tax return, and

specifies the form for this.

195

Lodgment of returns for the year of

income ended 30 June 2010 in

accordance with the Income Tax

Assessment Act 1936, the Income Tax

Assessment Act 1997, the Taxation

Administration Act 1953, the

Superannuation Industry (Supervision)

Act 1993, and the Income Tax

(Transitional Provisions) Act 1997

[F2010L01593]

Income Tax (Transitional Provisions) Act

1997



Superannuation Industry (Supervision)

Act 1993


Made 10/06/2010

Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Specifies who is to lodge an

annual return and the due date

for lodgment.

Lodgment of statements by first home

saver account providers for the year

ended 30 June 2010 in accordance with

the Taxation Administration Act 1953

[F2010L01596]


Made 10/06/2010

Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Specifies how First Home

Saver Account providers are

required to lodge First Home

Saver Account activity

statements.

196

National Consumer Credit Protection



137

[F2010L01578]

National Consumer Credit Protection Act

2009

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Amend the principal

Regulations to correct

typographical errors, specify an

exemption for special purpose

funding entities from licensing

requirements in specified

circumstances, and make other

minor amendments.


(Fees) Amendment Regulations (No. 2)


138

[F2010L01581]


(Fees) Act 2009

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Amend the principal

Regulations to provide for the

indexation of fees.

197


(Transitional and Consequential

Provisions) Amendment Regulations

2010 (No. 3)


139

[F2010L01580]


(Transitional and Consequential

Provisions) Act 2009

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 22/06/2010 S 22/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Amend the principal

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.

Superannuation Guarantee

(Administration) Amendment



140

[F2010L01577]

Superannuation Guarantee

(Administration) Act 1992

Made 15/06/2010

Tabled 21/06/2010 S 21/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Specify Medicare Australia as

an approved clearing house

198

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS

199

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

y

Amends the Statement of

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.

200





[F2010L01672]




Made 18/06/2010

Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

Summar

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.

201





[F2010L01674]




Made 18/06/2010

Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

Summar

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.

202


under subsection 196B(8) of the

Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986


[F2010L01675]




Made 18/06/2010

Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

Summar

y


Principles concerning vascular

dementia arising from


eligible war service rendered

by veterans, and defence

service rendered by members

of the Forces.

203

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

y

Provides a new Statement of

Principles concerning

methaemoglobinaemia arising





Forces, hazardous service


Forces, or warlike or non

warlike service rendered by

members of the Defence Force.

204





[F2010L01662]




Made 18/06/2010

Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

Summar

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.

205





[F2010L01664]




Made 18/06/2010

Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

Summar

y


Principles concerning internal

derangement of the knee

arising from operational









206


196B(2) of the Veterans' Entitlements Act

1986


[F2010L01666]




Made 18/06/2010

Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

Summar

y

Provides a Statement of

Principles concerning acute

articular cartilage tear arising










207



1986


[F2010L01668]




Made 18/06/2010

Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

Summar

y



meniscal tear of the knee

arising from operational









208



1986


[F2010L01676]




Made 18/06/2010

Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

Summar

y



Dupuytren‘s disease arising










209





[F2010L01661]




Made 18/06/2010

Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

Summar

y



methaemoglobinaemia arising

from eligible war service

rendered by veterans, defence


of the Forces, and peacetime


of the Defence Force.

210





[F2010L01663]




Made 18/06/2010

Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

Summar

y


Principles concerning sinus

barotrauma arising from

eligible war service rendered

by veterans, defence service


Forces, and peacetime service


Defence Force.

211





[F2010L01665]




Made 18/06/2010

Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

Summar

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


212



1986


[F2010L01667]




Made 18/06/2010

Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

Summar

y



articular cartilage tear arising







213



1986


[F2010L01669]




Made 18/06/2010

Tabled 23/06/2010 S 23/06/2010

HR

Summar

y



meniscal tear of the knee

arising from eligible war


defence service rendered by

members of the Forces, and

peacetime service rendered by


214



1986


[F2010L01671]




Made 18/06/2010

Tabled 24/06/2010 S 24/06/2010

HR

Summar

y



Dupuytren‘s disease arising







THE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT

Documents

Transcript of THE CONSUMER PROTECTION ACT