The Central Consumer Protection Authority has issued 325 notices for violation of consumer rights, misleading advertisements and unfair trade practices among others so far. The CCPA has also imposed total penalties amounting to ₹1.19 crore so far, Union Minister of State for the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, BL Verma said in a written reply on Wednesday.

He informed that CCPA has notified the “Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements, 2022” on June 9, 2022. These guidelines outlines the conditions for an advertisement to be not misleading and valid; certain stipulations in respect of bait advertisements and free claim advertisements; and, duties of manufacturer, service provider, advertiser and advertising agency.

“These guidelines states that due diligence is required for endorsement of advertisements such that any endorsement in an advertisement must reflect the genuine, reasonably current opinion of the individual, group or organisation making such representation and must be based on adequate information about, or experience with, the identified goods, product or service and must not otherwise be deceptive,” he stated.

Transparency in environmental claims

Recently, CCPA has also enacted the “Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Greenwashing and Misleading Environmental Claims, 2024, mandating transparency in environmental claims. Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements in the Coaching Sector have also been notified toaddress false claims, exaggerated success rates, and unfair practices in coaching institutes.

Outlining other initiatives of the CCPA, the Minister informed that the Authority has issued the “Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, 2023” on 30th November, 2023. These guidelines address and regulate 13 specific dark patterns identified in the e-commerce sector, aiming to prevent deceptive practices that mislead consumers, he informed the Lok Sabha.

Online reviews

Moreover, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) introduced the framework on ‘Online Consumer Reviews—Principles and Requirements for their Collection, Moderation, and Publication’ in November, 2022. This framework safeguards consumer interests by addressing fake and deceptive reviews in e-commerce. “While the standards are voluntary, they apply to all online platforms that publish consumer reviews and are guided by principles such as integrity, accuracy, privacy, security, transparency, accessibility and responsiveness,” the written response stated.

Published on December 18, 2024