Who is the consumer? Explain the rights of the consumers.
Solution:
The word 'Consumer' is derived from the Latin word 'Consumer' which means, to eat or to drink. The consumer is the one who consumes or uses any commodity or service available from natural resources or through a market.
A Consumer means any person who buys any goods, hires any service or services for a consideration which has been paid or promised or partly paid or partly promised or under any system of deferred payments.
Some of the rights of consumers are as follows:
Right to Safety:
This right protects consumers against products, production processes, and services which are hazardous to health or life. It includes concern for consumer's long-term interests as well as their immediate requirements. According to this right, the consumer must get full safety and protection to his life and health.
Right to Information:
According to this right, a consumer should be provided with adequate information about all aspects of goods and services like price, name of the manufacturer, contents used, batch number if any, date of manufacture and expiry date, user manual, and safety instruction, etc. This right also enables the consumer to select the right product or service.
Right to Choose:
According to this right, a consumer should be given full freedom to select an article as per his requirement, liking, and purchasing capacity. The right to choose is related to the concept of a free-market economy. As per this right, the seller can not compel the consumer to buy a particular product and hence monopoly is prevented.
Right to be heard:
Every business organization should listen and solve the complaints of consumers. According to this right, consumers have the opportunity to voice their complaints to the consumer forum. Consumers also give suggestions to manufacturers or traders on certain matters such as quality, quantity, price, packaging, etc. Nowadays, consumers can file online complaints through the portal or mobile applications.
Right to Consumer Education:
Every consumer has the right to know about consumer rights and solutions to their problems. This right creates consumer awareness. An aware consumer can make a rational choice of goods and services and protect his rights and interests from the exploitation of unscrupulous businessmen. Thus, consumer education becomes a priority concern.
Right to Represent:
The act provides an opportunity for individuals and consumer groups to represent consumer’s interests before the consumer forum. The act allows the consumer to be represented by a person who is not a professional advocate. This provision is in recognition of the consumer's right to represent.
Right to Redress:
This right enables the consumer to demand repair or replacement or compensation for defective products and for poor services. According to the consumer protection Act, three-tier quasi-judicial consumer dispute redressal machinery is established for the settlement of claims such as the District Commission at the District level, State Commission at the state level, and National
Commission at the national level. Consumers are protected from business malpractices.
Right to Healthy Environment:
All consumers have a right to a healthy and clean environment.
According to this right, the consumer can demand actions against the pollution causing business organizations. All consumers have the right to a healthy and clean environment in the present and future.
Right to Protect from unfair business practices:
As per this right, all consumers are protected against unfair business practices such as black marketing, profiteering, faulty weights and measures, exorbitant prices, adulteration, etc.
Right against spurious goods:
This right is against the marketing of goods which are hazardous to health, spurious, and pose a danger to life itself.
