All Coo Desk

All Coo Desk

World Consumer Rights Day was inspired by John F Kennedy, who was the first leader to send a special message on 15 March 1962 to the US Congress in which he formally discussed consumer rights concerns. In 1983, it was first marked by the consumer revolution and now mobilizes every year because of important issues and campaigns which is now celebrated every year on March 15 as World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD) raising global awareness of consumer rights, consumer protection and empowerment.

This year the theme of WCRD 2023 will be: Empowering Consumers Through Clean Energy Transitions. In India too the day is being celebrated by the Department of Consumer Affairs and other organizations.

Global energy crisis is looming large with energy shortages, increased prices of oil and other economic factors especially after the pandemic. However, the energy crisis deepened following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. This had an untold impact on vulnerable consumers and also on climate change. The International Energy Agency (IEA) said the world faces its first “truly global energy crisis” in addition to unaffordable energy bills. It added that unaffordable energy bills remain a huge problem, driven up as the exports of oil and gas have been restricted.

Why is Clean Energy Transition the need of the hour?

Currently most of the global energy is depended on excessive use of non-renewable sources of energy like coal and gas which in turn puts a strain on our water and oxygen resources by causing pollution. Fossil fuels contribute to almost 75 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 90 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions. It is therefore imperative to prevent deadliest impact of climate change to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by almost half by 2030 and reach net-zero by 2050.This should be seen as a turning point for speeding up the world’s transition to green energy.

The clean energy transition means shifting energy production away from sources that release a lot of greenhouse gases, such as fossil fuels, to those that release little to no greenhouse gases. Nuclear power, hydro, wind and solar are some of these clean sources.

One must realize that the shift to clean and sustainable energy resources will involve shift of resources between industrial sectors and local governments. Governments must quickly adapt to the use and disbursing of renewable energy as availability and quality of renewable resources vary.

Stakeholders in this process have varying degrees of political and economic power, and understanding how political economic factors influence clean energy transitions is crucial to effective policy formulation and facilitating transitions to sustainable energy systems.  A ‘clean energy transition’ refers broadly to a substitution of technologies and associated fuel inputs across the full set of energy subsectors and consumers of energy, both as intermediates and final goods.

India’s clean energy transition

No one needs a net zero world more than the world’s largest and oldest democracy- India. India has huge potential for green transition investments such as solar, hydro or wind.

However, a clean energy transition is highly unlikely to occur on its own.  Political economy considerations take a leading role. India and China are cases in point. In 2009, it is fair to say that India’s negotiation strategy aimed to position climate change as a developed country problem. In contrast, India’s INDC (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions) offers serious attempts to reduce the carbon intensity of its GDP. China has gone further, offering to peak emissions by 2030 with declines thereafter.

However in 2019 India announced that it would take up its installed capacity of renewable energy to 450 GW by 2030. The Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) scheme is another initiative of the Government of India with respect to enhancing the manufacturing sector for the production of raw materials for renewable energy. Offshore wind too has been given a new lease of life through recent government reforms and targets. With a coastline of about 7,600 km, offering the potential to install ~195GW of offshore wind capacity, the segment can contribute to India’s clean energy target.

A latest report of Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, India’s renewable energy capacity is projected to grow rapidly with 35-40 GW added annually through to the fiscal year 2029/30. Installed renewable energy capacity (including large hydro) rose from a few megawatts (MW) in 2010 to ~163 gigawatts (GW) as of August 2022. India’s ambitious renewable energy targets and the associated policy and reform framework have been an important tailwind for the sector’s development.

“The good news is that the lifeline is right in front of us,” says UN Secretary-General António Guterres, stressing that renewable energy technologies like wind and solar already exist today, and in most cases, are cheaper than coal and other fossil fuels.  We now need to put them to work, urgently, at scale and speed.

Redefining digital payments

A food system is defined as a system that embraces all the elements (environment, people, inputs, processes, infrastructure, institutions, markets and trade) and activities that relate to the production, processing, distribution and marketing, preparation and consumption of food and the outputs of these activities

UN Secretary-General António Guterres will convene a UN Food Systems Summit to be held during the UN General Assembly in New York on September 23 as part of the Decade of Action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The Summit will launch bold new actions to deliver progress on all 17 SDGs, each of which relies to some degree on healthier, more sustainable and equitable food systems. The Summit process aims to deliver the following outcomes:

All of us are consumers of goods and services. The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 is an Act to provide for protection of the interests of consumers and for the said purpose, to establish authorities for timely and effective administration and settlement of consumers’ disputes and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. The Consumer Protection Bill, 2019 was introduced in Lok Sabha by the then Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, late Shri Ram Vilas Paswan on July 8, 2019. The Bill replaces the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

A consumer is defined as a person who buys any good or avails a service for a consideration.  It does not include a person who obtains a good for resale or a good or service for commercial purpose.  It covers transactions through all modes including offline, and online through electronic means, teleshopping, multi-level marketing or direct selling. These rules may be called the Consumer Protection (Central Consumer Protection Council) Rules, 2020. They came into force on the 20th day of July,2020.

Rights of consumers: Six ( 6 ) :

consumer rights have been defined in the Bill, including the right to: (i) be protected against marketing of goods and services which are hazardous to life and property; (ii) be informed of the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and price of goods or services; (iii) be assured of access to a variety of goods or services at competitive prices; and (iv) seek redressal against unfair or restrictive trade practices.

Central Consumer Protection Authority:

The central government will set up a Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers.  It will regulate matters related to violation of consumer rights, unfair trade practices, and misleading advertisements.  The CCPA will have an investigation wing, headed by a Director-General, which may conduct inquiry or investigation in to such violations.

CCPA will carry out the following functions, including: (i) inquiring into violations of consumer rights, investigating and launching prosecution at the appropriate forum; (ii) passing orders to recall goods or withdraw services that are hazardous, reimbursement of the price paid, and discontinuation of the unfair trade practices, as defined in the Bill; (iii) issuing directions to the concerned trader/ manufacturer/ endorser/ advertiser/ publisher to either discontinue a false or misleading advertisement, or modify it; (iv) imposing penalties, and; (v) issuing safety notices to consumers against unsafe goods and services.

Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission:

Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions (CDRCs) will be set up at the district, state, and national levels.  A consumer can file a complaint with CDRCs in relation to: (i) unfair or restrictive trade practices; (ii) defective goods or services; (iii) overcharging or deceptive charging; and (iv) the offering of goods or services for sale which may be hazardous to life and safety.  Complaints against an unfair contract can be filed with only the State and National   Appeals from a District CDRC will be heard by the State CDRC.  Appeals from the State CDRC will be heard by the National CDRC.  Final appeal will lie before the Supreme Court.

The District CDRC will entertain complaints where value of goods and services does not exceed Rs one crore.  The State CDRC will entertain complaints when the value is more than Rs one crore but does not exceed Rs 10 crore.  Complaints with value of goods and services over Rs 10 crore will be entertained by the National CDRC.

Product liability:

This is also a provision introduced which has a great ramification over product quality which the consumer doesn’t have to prove extensively. The onus lies upon the seller / brand. Product liability means the liability of a product manufacturer, service provider or seller to compensate a consumer for any harm or injury caused by a defective good or deficient service.  To claim compensation, a consumer has to prove any one of the conditions for defect or deficiency, as given in the Bill.

Penalties for Misleading Advertisement:

Misleading and false advertisements is one of the many aspects that were introduced by the 2019 Act. The repealed Act did not deal with the concept of misleading and false advertisements. Misleading advertisement is defined under Section 2(28) of the Act and includes any advertisement, which gives false description of a product or service, gives false guarantee misleading the consumers, conveys express representation constituting unfair trade practice and deliberately not revealing essential information about the product.

Also Read: The Price of Misleading Advertisements

Alternate Dispute Resolution:  If it appears to the Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum that the consumer dispute can be settled by way of mediation, it may refer the parties to mediation with their consent. For the purpose of mediation, the State Government shall establish a consumer mediation cell for each District Commission and State Commission. The Central Government shall establish a consumer mediation cell attached to the National Commission The consumer mediation cell will be responsible for maintaining a list of empanelled mediators, cases handled by the cell, record of proceeding and other information by specified regulations. The cell also has to submit a quarterly report to the commission it is attached to.

E-Complaints : Section 17 of the Act provides that a complaint regarding unfair trade practice, violation of consumer rights or misleading and false advertisements can be filed in electronic mode also to the District Collector, the Regional Office Commissioner or the Central Authority.

In spite of certain lacunas in the Act, the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 is a positive step towards development and reformation of consumer laws in the country. With the new act based on the foundation of fair trade practices, the consumers are no more asked to beware. Today, a consumer is treated like a King. Hence, it becomes important for the owners of consumer driven businesses, like e-commerce or retail to be mindful of the changes in the legal landscape and have robust policies that deal with consumer redressal in place. Consumer driven businesses need to be cautious before opting for unfair trade practices.