Government to 'Empower' Consumer Protection Bodies: Paswan

MUMBAI: The government plans to amend the Consumer Protection Act to make the redressal mechanism easy and universally accessible, Consumer Affairs, Food and Civil Supplies Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said here today.     

 A broadbased consumer protection authority which would be empowered to take suo moto action against violating companies would be set up, Paswan said at a review meeting of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) here.     

The government would broad base the consumer redress mechanism by inducting people from different walks of life, besides those from judicial and legal backgrounds, he added.          

Lashing out at companies which resort to misleading advertisements, he said that the government has set up an inter-ministerial committee, with arepresentatives from the Information & Broadcasting Ministry as well as the Health and Family Welfare Ministry, to look into the matter.

He urged the BIS to undertake a massive consumer awareness programme, especially in regional languages. He also mentioned the use of social media to spread consumer awareness.          

 Paswan called upon BIS to develop an excellent product certification system on par with international standards in order to make Indian goods acceptable worldwide, adding that this is a pre-requisite for the ambitious 'Make In India' campaign to succeed.      The BIS has formulated 19,000 standards out of which 6,000 are internationally comparable. BIS certifies 933 products with an ISI mark.          

At present, ISI certification is compulsory for 123 products, but the minister said that the number of certified products would need to increase.