{"id":720,"date":"2020-12-05T12:26:10","date_gmt":"2020-12-05T06:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.plancover.com\/insurance\/?p=720"},"modified":"2022-03-08T16:42:38","modified_gmt":"2022-03-08T11:12:38","slug":"consumer-protection-act-cpa-and-product-liability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.plancover.com\/insurance\/consumer-protection-act-cpa-and-product-liability\/","title":{"rendered":"Consumer Protection Act (CPA) and Product Liability"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">India does not have a general product liability statute, but there are several general laws that protect consumers from defective products. The Consumer protection Act (CPA) has provisions for a complaint to be filed in relation to goods that are hazardous to life and safety (in contravention of any standards imposed by law) or otherwise defective.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\">What is Product Liability?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.plancover.com\/business\/product-liability-insurance\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Product liability<\/a> arises when there is any fault or defect found in product. It also specifies the rights available to consumer and who will be liable if there is any defect in product whether manufacturer or retailer or supplier.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Product Liability Insurance will cover for cost of compensation against financial losses suffered by a third-party arising out of use or consumption of a faulty product. The third-party has to suffer a bodily injury or property damage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\">Definitions:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Bodily injury \u2013 Includes death and illness, disability, shock, anguish or mental injury.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Property damage \u2013 Any destruction of tangible product including loss of use.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\">Consumer Protection Act and Product Liability<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">A consumer has \u2018\u2019right to be informed\u2019\u2019 which describes that a consumer has a right to be informed about the quality and quantity standard, price and the health safety of the product. If he gets any wrong information about it or mislead about the expiry date of the product, then a consumer can also file a suit.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">The consumer protection laws available in India provide some common rights to the consumers, like if any defect is found out in the product then the consumer can bring a legal action against the manufacturer or supplier or both for the breach of contract between them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">The responsibility for a defective product depends on the manufacturer, retailer or supplier. If any defect is found out in the process of producing goods then the manufacturer will be liable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Once the product is sold to the public via a retailer the latter may also be held responsible for the supply of defective product.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Burden of proof lies on the claimant and he has to prove that whatever injury he has suffered, is caused by defective product, which is produced by the manufacturer or supplied by the supplier.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\">Claims for injuries caused by the defective products.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Goods purchased by the consumer should have some set of standard and quality. If they don\u2019t posses any set of standard and unsafe for the health, then a consumer may have a claim under Consumer protection Act 1987.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Strict Liability &#8211; A recent evolution of Consumer protection Act 1987 deals with the strict liability imposed on the manufacturer of the goods for any defect in the product. It means that if consumer suffers any injury, then a claim can be brought against the manufacturer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\">Here are some highlights of the Consumer Protection Bill 2017:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">The Bill also replaces the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">The Bill enforces consumer rights and provides a mechanism for redressal of complaints regarding a defect in goods and deficiency in services.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">The Bill proposes to set up Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission at all districts, state and national levels for adjudicating consumer complaints.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">The Bill also establishes a Consumer Protection Authority to investigate into consumer complaints, issue safety notices for goods and services, and pass orders for recall of goods and against misleading advertisement.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">The Bill also gives power to the consumer of filing a claim of product liability against the manufacturer in case of any injury or any defect found in a good. The consumer must establish seven conditions in order to prove such a claim.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\">The Bill also classifies six contract terms as \u2018unfair\u2019. These cover terms such as<\/span> <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">payment of excessive security deposits <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">disproportionate penalty for a breach <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">unilateral termination without cause<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">one which puts the consumer at a disadvantage.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>India does not have a general product liability statute, but there are several general laws that protect consumers from defective products. The Consumer protection Act (CPA) has provisions for a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2454,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[111,108,57,60,109],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.plancover.com\/insurance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.plancover.com\/insurance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.plancover.com\/insurance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.plancover.com\/insurance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.plancover.com\/insurance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=720"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.plancover.com\/insurance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":724,"href":"https:\/\/www.plancover.com\/insurance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720\/revisions\/724"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.plancover.com\/insurance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.plancover.com\/insurance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.plancover.com\/insurance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.plancover.com\/insurance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}