Central Consumer Protection Authority- to promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers, BRICS- to improve the environment and promote the Circular Economy

July 31, 2020 · Param IAS Team

Daily News, International Relation

1. Central Consumer Protection Authority- to promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers

  • The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 has come into force from 20th July, 2020. 
  • As provided in section 10 of the Act, the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) has been established from 24th July, 2020.
  • For operationalization of the CCPA, Additional Secretary in the Department of Consumer Affairs, Smt. Nidhi Khare has been assigned the charge of Chief Commissioner, Joint Secretary in the Department Shri Anupam Mishra as Commissioner, Director General, BIS Shri Pramod K Tiwari as Director General (Investigation) and Director General, National Test House, Shri Vineet Mathur  as Additional Director General (Investigation) in the Central Consumer Protection Authority from 29th July, 2020 to exercise the powers and discharge the functions under the Act.
  • Meanwhile, the CCPA will start functioning in the premises of IIPA.
  • The support staff is being arranged from the Centre for Consumer Studies of The Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) and the National Consumer Helpline, which have been financially aided by the Department since 2007.
  • The objective of the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) is to promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers as a class.
  • It will be empowered to conduct investigations into violation of consumer rights and institute complaints / prosecution, order recall of unsafe goods and services, order discontinuation of unfair trade practices and misleading advertisements, impose penalties on manufacturers/endorsers/publishers of misleading advertisements.

For giving effect to the provisions of the Act, the following rules have also been notified and made effective from 20th July, 2020:

  1. The Consumer Protection (General) Rules, 2020
  2. The Consumer Protection (Central Consumer Protection Council) Rules, 2020.
  3. The Consumer Protection (Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions) Rules, 2020.
  4. The Consumer Protection (Mediation) Rules, 2020.
  5. The Consumer Protection (Salary, allowances and conditions of service of President and Members of the State Commission and District Commission) Model Rules, 2020.
  6. The Consumer Protection (Qualification for appointment, method of recruitment, procedure of appointment, term of office, resignation and removal of the President and members of the State Commission and District Commission) Rules, 2020.
  7. The Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020. (effective from 23 July, 2020).

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has also notified the following Regulations effective from 24th July, 2020:

  1. The Consumer Protection (Consumer Commission Procedure) Regulations, 2020.
  2. The Consumer Protection (Administrative Control over the State Commission and the District Commission) Regulations, 2020.
  3. The Consumer Protection (Mediation) Regulations, 2020.

2. BRICS- to improve the environment and promote the Circular Economy

  • The Environment Ministers of the five BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China & South Africa) participated in the 6th BRICS Environment Ministers' Meeting on 30 July 2020 under the presidency of Russia. 
  • Representing India, Union Environment Minister, Shri Prakash Javadekar, said that India attaches great importance to the grouping.
  • The Environment Minister said that the aspiration of BRICS countries are similar and called for sharing of best practices among the BRICS nation towards attainment of Sustainable Development Goals.
  • It is with great pleasure that we note that Russia's chairmanship of BRICS coincides with the celebrations to mark the 75th Commemoration of the End of World War II and the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations.
  • Further, the efforts made by India in areas relating to sustainable urban management, tackling marine litter, air pollution and the cleaning of rivers is remarkable.
  • The efforts made by India in controlling Air pollution that in 2015 India launched the Air Quality index monitoring in 10 cities.
  • Today it has been extended to 122 cities.
  • It is also informed that India in 2019 launched the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), the goal of which is to reduce particulate pollution by 20-30 percent relative to 2017 levels by 2024.
  • India believes that Equity, Common but differentiated responsibilities, finance and technology partnerships are key pillars towards attainment of global goals of climate change mitigation and adaptation and India is walking the talk on Paris Agreement and its Climate commitments.
  • During the meeting the need for all the BRICS nations to work as a group for the post 2020 Biodiversity framework was also emphasised.
  • The meeting was preceded by the BRICS Working Group meeting. 
  • India will assume the BRICS Presidency in 2021.