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Consumer Rights

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy outlined what hecalled the Consumer Bill of Rights.

Every year 15thMarch is observed as World

Consumer Rights Day.

Consumer Protection Act 1986.

The four basic consumer rights are:

The right to be informed

The right to choose

The right to safety

The right to be heard

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Right to be informed:

Means right to be informed about quality, quantity,potency, purity, standard and price of goods to avoid

unfair trade practices.

Consumer should also insist on getting all the

information about product or service before taking any

decision.

This will enable him to act wisely and responsibly and

also desist him from falling prey to pressure selling

techniques.

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Examples of r ight to be informed:

It has come to light that most cosmetics like lipsticks,kajal and mascara are tested on animals in

laboratories to see whether they have any adverse

effects on them or no.

There was also a controversy about how Nike shoecompany was using sweat labour in South Asian

countries, paying its workers abysmally low wages

for manufacturing shoes.

Similarly, there was a McLibel' case against

McDonald's alleging that Mc Donald's generated a lot

lot of unwanted waste due to its excessive packaging

and harmed the environment.

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Right to choose:

Means right to be assured wherever possible of access

to variety of goods and services at competitive prices.

In case of monopolies it means right to be assured of

satisfactory quality and service at fair price.

It also includes right to basic goods and services.

This right can be better exercised in competitive

market, wher variety of goods are available at

competitive prices.

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Examples of r ight to choose:

Different interests can interpret the right to choice in

different ways. For the developed world consumers,

right to choice translates into more and a variety of

products to choose from.For e.g. American consumers can choose from 25,000

super market items, 200 kinds of cereals, and read

11,092 magazines.

These days, one can buy imported apples that cost Rs200 a kilo and syrups, jams, sauces, drinks that are

manufactured overseas.

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Right to safety:

Means right to be protected against the marketing ofgoods and services which are hazardous to life and

property.

The purchased goods should not only meet their

intermediate needs but also fulfill long term interests. Before purchasing consumers should insist on quality

of the products and guarantee of the products and

services.

They should preferably purchase quality marked

products such as ISI, AGMARK, etc.

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Examples of r ight to safety:

For e.g. some Indian products carry the ISI mark, which

is a symbol of satisfactory quality of a product. Similarly,the FPO and AGMARK symbolise standard quality of

food products. The market has for long made consumers

believe that by consuming packaged food or mineral

water, consumers can safeguard their health.In today's scenario of globalisation, the chocolates or

syrups we consume, may be manufactured in countries as

far as the U.S. or Australia. Consumers in India would

have no control over or knowledge of the manufacturing

practices of those countries and will have to rely

completely on import regulations of the Indian

government and food labelling.

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Right to be heard:

This means consumers interest will receive due

consideration at appropriate forums.

It also includes right to be represented in various

forums formed to consider consumers welfare.

The consumers should form non political and non

commercial consumer organizations.

These organizations can be given representation in

various commitees formed by the government and

other bodies in matters relating to consumers.

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Examples of r ight to be heard:

For e.g. if you have been cheated in the market place or deprived of

the right quality of service, your complaint should be heard and

given due attention by the authorities.

The right to be heard holds special significance in the Indian

context because Indian consumers are largely unaware of their

rights and passively accept their violation.

This mainly happens in local retail shops of grains, cereals andfood products.