Consumer Awareness, Consumer Rights and Responsibilities

Consumer Awareness is an act of making sure the buyer or consumer is aware of the information about products, goods, services, and consumers rights. Consumer awareness is important so that buyer can take the right decision and make the right choice. Consumers have the right to information, right to choose, right to safety. Let us learn more about Consumer rights, responsibilities and consumer awareness in detail.

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Consumer Rights and Responsibilities

Consumer Rights is an insight into what rights consumer holds when it comes to seller which provide the goods. What if the goods provided to the consumer by the business is not up to the standard? Then in that case – what should a consumer do? To be precise, what rights consumer have is in the court of law to fight against the malpractices of the business firms or seller.

Browse more Topics under Consumer Protection

• Intro & Importance of Consumer Protection
• Consumer Protection Act
• Legal Protection to Consumers
• Consumer Organisations and NGOs

Consumer Rights

• Right to Safety: This is the first and the most important of the Consumer Rights. They should be protected against the product that hampers their safety. The protection must be against any product which could be hazardous to their health – Mental, Physical or many of the other factors.
• Right to Information: They should be informed about the product. The product packaging should list the details which should be informed to the consumer and they should not hide the same or provide false information.
• Right to Choose: They should not be forced to select the product. A consumer should be convinced of the product he is about to choose and should make a decision by himself. This also means consumer should have a variety of articles to choose from. Monopolistic practices are not legal.
• Right to Heard: If a consumer is dissatisfied with the product purchased then they have all the right to file a complaint against it. And the said complaint cannot go unheard, it must be addressed in an appropriate time frame.
• Right to Seek Redressal: In case a product is unable to satisfy the consumer then they have the right to get the product replaced, compensate, return the amount invested in the product. We have a three-tier system of redressal according to the Consumer Protection Act 1986.
• Right to Consumer Education: Consumer has the right to know all the information and should be made well aware of the rights and responsibilities of the government. Lack of Consumer awareness is the most important problem our government must solve.

Learn more about Intro and Importance of Consumer Protection here in detail.

 Responsibilities of a Consumer

The consumer has a certain responsibility to carry as an aware consumer can bring changes in the society and would help other consumers to fight the unfair practice or be aware of it.

• They should be aware of their rights under the Consumer Protection Act and should practice the same in case of need.
• They should be well aware of the product they are buying. Should act as a cautious consumer while purchasing the product.
• If in case a product is found of anything false or not satisfactory a complaint should be filed.
• The consumer should ask for a Cash Memo while making a purchase.
• A customer should check for the standard marks that have been introduced for the authenticity of the quality of the product like ISI or Hallmark etc.

What Is the Meaning of Consumer Awareness?

Consumer Awareness is the process of making the consumer of goods and services aware of his rights. It involves educating a consumer about safety, information and the redressal options available to him.

As previously discussed consumer awareness is one of the most persistent problems the government faces when it comes to consumer protection. To resolve this problem the government has come up with various methods over the years. In fact, it is the main aim of the Department of Consumer Affairs.

Consumer Awareness in India

One of the most important and successful Consumer Awareness campaign in recent times has been the “Jago Grahak Jago” campaign. You must have certainly come across it. It is a great example of successful consumer awareness.

Learn more about Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (COPRA) here.

Solved Question for You

Question: Explain the following rights: (a) The right to safety (b)The right to consumer education.

Ans: Let us take a look at the two rights:

• The right to safety: It refers to the right to be protected against products, production processes and services that endanger the physical health or well being of the consumer.
• The right to consumer education: It refers to a right that protects the consumer from various large companies of the products and services they sell. It is basically about informing people and giving them the required knowledge for living in a consumer society.  These rights and exercises must be followed by every consumer.