Central Consumer Protection Authority

Context:

In a recent event, Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) had asked public comments on the Draft Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisement in the Coaching Sector.

Relevance:

GS-02 (Polity)

Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) :

  • The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) was established w.e.f. 24th July 2020 under Section 10 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.
  • Objective: To promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers as a class.
  • It will be empowered to conduct investigations into violations of consumer rights and institute complaints/prosecution, order recalls of unsafe goods and services, order discontinuation of unfair trade practices and misleading advertisements, and impose penalties on manufacturers/endorsers/publishers of misleading advertisements.
  • It also acts to prevent unfair trade practices and ensure that no person engages in unfair trade practices.
  • Composition:
    • Chief Commissioner as head.
    • Two other commissioners as members — one of whom will deal with matters relating to goods while the other will look into cases relating to services.

Facts for Prelims:

  • Consumerism: It states that the continual expansion of purchasing goods and services in the market is inherently advantageous, asserting that an individual’s happiness and welfare are fundamentally tied to the acquisition of consumer products and material possessions.
  • Dark patterns: They are referred to as deceptive patterns or tactics utilized by websites and apps to manipulate users into unintended actions or discourage behaviors that are unfavorable for the companies. There are 13 types of Dark Patterns on which CCPA had recently issued its notification. They are- False Urgency, Basket Sneaking, Confirm Shaming, Forced Action, Subscription Trap, Interface Interference, Bait and Switch, Drip Pricing, Disguised Advertisement, Nagging, Trick Question, Saas Billing (Generating recurring payments in a software as a service (SaaS) model), Rogue Malwares.