What are the main features of the Consumer Protection Act?
Following are the salient features of Consumer Protection Act:
(i) Coverage of Items: This Act is applicable on all products and services, until or unless any product or service is especially debarred out of the scope of this Act by Central Government.
(ii) Coverage of Sectors: This Act is applicable to all areas whether private, public or cooperative.
(iii) Compensatory Nature of Provisions: Many Acts have been passed for the help of consumer. Consumers enjoy the benefits of these Acts but if a consumer wishes the Consumer Protection Act can provide extra help. As a result the nature of provisions of this Act is compensating for loss or providing extra help. Consumer is totally free to enjoy the benefits of any of these Acts.
(iv) Group of Consumer’s Rights: This Act provides many rights to consumers. These rights are related to safety, information, choice, representation, redressal, education etc.
(v) Effective Safeguards: This Act provides safety to consumers regarding defective products, dissatisfactory services and unfair trade practices. So under the purview of this Act there is a provision to ban all those activities which can cause a risk for consumer.