Safeguarding 21st Century Consumers: Navigating The Modern Landscape For Consumer Protection

Lochana Hegde, School of Law, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Pune Lavasa Campus, Lavasa, India

ABSTRACT

The Consumer Protection Act of 2019 defines a consumer in Section 2(7) as someone who buys any good or receives any service for a consideration that has been paid, promised, partially paid, and partially promised, or under any system of deferred payment and includes any user of those goods or recipient of those goods and services who is not the person who purchases those goods for the consideration that has been paid, promised, partially paid, and partially promised, or under any system of deferred payment when those uses or services are obtained with that person's consent, but does not include those who does.

Purpose - To provide a strong and thorough framework for defending the rights and interests of consumers, the Indian government drafted the Consumer Protection Act of 20191. The Act was passed to identify the shifting market functions as well as the different difficulties that customers have while interacting with retailers and providers of services. Laws that protect consumers work to level the playing field between customers and producers. They make sure that customers receive fair treatmentand further safeguard them against unfair, dishonest, and deceptive business practices. Consumers frequently lack the knowledge and experience that corporations do. By mandating companies, producers, and firms to disclose precise and straightforward details about their goods, services, prices, terms, and conditions, consumer protection laws seek to remedy this information asymmetry. This enables customers to make wise decisions. Consumer protection laws set standards for the safety and quality of goods and services. They require businesses to adhere to these standards, ensuring that consumers are not exposed to hazardous products or substandard services. Hence, the Consumer Protection Act of 2019 was drafted accurately to address these issues.