CCPA Orders Immediate Action Against Companies Fiddling With Industrial Standards

| Updated: 26 October, 2021 8:36 pm IST

NEW DELHI: With the onset of the festive season, The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), which is part of the Department of Consumer Affairs in the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, has taken firm action against infringement of consumer rights. Secretary of Consumer Affairs, Leena Nandan, mentioned in a Press Conference that those manufacturers misleading the consumers would not be spared by law.

This comes after the authority served 202 notices with regard to country of origin violations in the period 16.10.20 to 22.10.21. Since many companies misused the global pandemic to sell their products by making atrocious claims like their mattress killing 99% of the COVID germs.

Although the authorities refrained from commenting on the alleged misinformation spread by Patanjali’s CORONIL kit during the pandemic, it was claimed that out of 27 notices served on account of misleading advertisements, 6 companies withdrew their advertisements and 4 agreed to corrective advertisements. This, however, makes space for the question if the advertisements too shall pass from a proper channel of censorship.

Noting the fact that using substandard daily use products like helmet, pressure cooker and gas cylinders can be life threatening, violation of compulsory standards has been categorized as a cognizable offence u/s 29 (4) of BIS Act. This task is currently in the high priority agenda list of CCPA as immediate action after a detailed market surveillance has been told to the District Collectors.

There is a high chance that the process has been fast tracked owing to festivities and fog, both being round the corner hence exponentially increasing the chance of fatalities.

Reason being, the sales of these three products spike up; pressure cookers are purchased during the Diwali weeklong and so are helmets, when the foggy season is at its prime.

The department has also launched new measures to work with stakeholders to safeguard consumers against cyber crime.

Cyber fraud complaints were also filed to the National Consumer Helpline (NCH). The Department of Consumer Affairs has cooperated with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), Ministry of Home Affairs, to increase the redressal of cyber fraud claims on the National Consumer Helpline (NCH).

The NCH homepage prominently displays the helpline number 155260 for reporting cyber fraud. On the platform, there is also a banner link to file a complaint directly with the Cyber Crime Portal.

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